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1XEP3.S. I*. jPl. HILDRETH. 



-THE- 



LIFE jQlHSTID TIMES 



-OF- 



AZRO B, F. HILDRETH 



INCLUDING 



PERSONAL AND FAMILY LETTERS, 
Miscellaneous Correspondence, 



AND- 



SELECTIONS FROM HIS WRITINGS, 



IN POUR PARTS. 



EUiitcsd toy Charles jft-ldariesfci., 



DES MOINES: 

Published by Redhead, Norton, Lathrop & Co. 
1891. 






TO THE 

Wide-a-wake, Enterprising, and Go-a-head 

Boys and Girls 

— of — 

The American Union, ,' 

this book is respectfully dedicated. 



DYKE BROTHERS, 

POWEP^ PF^ESS POINTERS, 

CHARLES CITY, IOWA. 



PREFACE. 

Very soon after I began the publication of the Hamilton Free- 
man, at Webster City, Iowa, in June, 1857, I had the pleasure of 
welcoming to my exchange list the Charles City Intelligencer. 
This was in all respects —for a frontier region, as that was in 
those days — a very remarkable paper. It was remarkable for 
its large size, for the clearness and beauty with which it was 
printed, and for the able and vigorous manner with which it 
was conducted. While it was strongly partisan, — its editor be- 
ing one of the advanced guard of Eepublicanism in those early 
days before the war, when the opposition to slavery extension 
was crystalizing and culminating, — it was a pure and elevating 
journal, which any parent might safely allow to come to his 
fireside. It was always on the side of religion, temperance, 
good morals, education ; and ever the advocate of the homely, 
old-fashioned virtues of industry and economy. It had been 
founded some months before I came to Iowa, by Azro B. F. 
Hildreth, whom I afterwards came to know quite intimately. 
As long as we were in the publishing business we "exchanged" 
papers, meeting each other every few months, for many years, 
at conventions or other public gatherings. He was a man for 
whom I always entertained the highest respect, because I knew 
him to possess fine abilities, a character above reproach, and 
personal qualities which made him a pleasant man to meet. 

We both retired from our papers, and thus far, perhaps for 
twenty years, v we had only met on two or three occasions. 
But in the summer of 1890 a business errand called me to 
Charles City, when, as a matter of course, I called upon my old 
friend, whose hair like my own was turning white, and whose 
now dear departed wife was an invalid. During this visit I 
remarked that his experience of pioneer life had been so varied 
and extensive that he ought to write and publish his biography. 
He arose without saying a word and went into an adjoining 
room, whence he soon returned with a large parcel of manu- 
script, saying: "There it is!" He suggested that I should 
edit the work ; to which I replied that this should be done by 
whoever was his own particular choice. Adhering to what he 
had said, I gave my consent, although I knew that any writing 
which came from Mr. Hildreth's pen would require little at the 
hands of any editor. 

The book is now before the reader. I believe it will be wide- 
ly read, and with both interest and profit. Like the old Intelli- 
gencer, its inculcations are for the pure, the good and the true. 
It will carry to distant days the story of the settlement of one 
of the finest portions of our garden State of Iowa; telling how 
an able and excellent journal was founded in a region which 
bad scarcely ceased to be a wilderness. My own care and labor 
in the preparation of this book have been so exceedingly slight 
that I have no hesitancy in heartily commending it to individ- 
ual readers and to the favor of the managers of every public 
library in the State. Charles Aldrich. 

Webster City, Iowa, 1891. 



CONTENTS. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth — Frontispieces. 

Portrait of little Mary Hildreth. 85 

The Hildreth Printing House, Charles City, Iowa. - - 115 

Home of Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth, Charles City, Iowa. - 159 

High School Building, Charles City, Iowa. - - - 225 

A Scene of Early Days in Charles City, Iowa. - - 526 



Dedication. 

Preface, by the Editor. 



PAKT FIRST 



CHAPTEE. 








Introduction. - 


9 


I 


Birth and Parentage. - - 


13 


II 


Sketch by Richard Hildreth, historian. 


17 


III 


The Historian Hildreth. 


21 


IV 


Dr. S P. Hildreth. 


23 


V 


The Tyler Family. 


25 


VI 


History of the Tyler Family. - 


27 


VII 


Daniel Hildreth's Family. 


30 


VIII 


Their First Born. - - - 


37 


IX 


A Piscatorial Adventure. 


39 


X 


The Old Homestead. - 


41 


XI 


At a Boarding School. 


43 


XII 


A Young Farmer. - 


44 


XIII 


The Scribner Family. 


45 


XIV 


Various Undertakings. 


46 


XV 


A Season in New York. 


50 


XVI 


Learns the Printer's Art. - 


52 


XVII 


Entering Upon a New Life. 


54 


XVIII 


The Log Cabin Campaign. 


57 


XIX 


Changes in Business and a New Wife. 


59 


XX 


A Second Bereavement. - - 


63 


XXI 


Political Address. - 


67 


XXII 


A New Matrimonial Alliance. 


83 


XXIII 


Odd Fellowship — A Lecture. 


88 


XXIV 


A New Home. Here and There. 


112 



CONTENTS. 



XXV 

XXVI 

XXVII 

XXVIII 

XXIX 

XXX 

XXXI 

XXXII 

XXXIII 

XXXIV 

XXXV 

XXXVI 

xxxvn 

XXXVIII 

XXXIX 

XL 

XLI 

XLII 

XLIII 

XLIV 

XLV 

XLVI 



The Intelligencer Newspaper. - 1 14 

State Board of Education. - - - 123 

Eemarks Upon Co-Education. - - 126 

The Winnebago Indians. - - 134 

The Free Public Schools of Iowa. - - 140 

Commissioner of Draft. - 143 

A Member of the General Assembly. - 145 
The Sanitary Commission. Assassination 

of Lincoln. - 157 

Eetires to Private Life. - 159 

Still in Active Life. - 163 

A Centennial Journey. - - - 166 

The Temperance Cause. - - 176 

The City of the Dead. - - - 179 

Floyd County Agricultural Society. - 180 

Graduation Exercises. - 184 

Commencement again. - - 188 
Independence Day. ... 194 
Cedar Valley Educational Union. Vermont 

and Vermonters. - 197 

Amusements — An Essay. - - 201 

Congregational House Warming. - - 208 

Death of Mrs. L. A. Hildreth. - - 211 

Consolation. - - 224 



PART SECOND. 




LETTERS. 




Personal Letters by Azro B. F. Hildreth, 


226 to 272 


Family Letters to A. B. F. Hildreth, 


273 


From Daniel Hildreth 


273, 274, 275 


" Clarissa Hildreth, 


276, 277, 278, 279 


" Dr. S. P. Hildreth, 


280 


" Clarissa Hildreth, 


282 to 288 


" Harriet N. Porter, 


288 to 298 


" Mary C. McCoy and Charles McCoy, 


299 to 301 


v ' Amanda L. Hildreth, 


301 to 305 


Death of Amanda L. Hildreth, 


305 


rrom Lovinia G. Hildreth, 


307 to 308 


" Josiah W. Knight, 


309 


" A. G. Hildreth, - 


310 to 329 


" Luke J. Page, 


330 


" Koxie C. Tyler, 


331 


" Koxie Tyler Dennett, 


332 


" Kev. W. E. Dennett, 


333 


Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Dennett, 


334 


From Carrie R, Stone, 


337 and 338 


" Horace Brown, 


338 


" Harriet N. Porter, 


339 


" Luke J. Page, 


340 


" Sella E. Thayer, 


340 



CONTKNTS. 

PART THIRD 

MISCELLANEOUS COftftESPONDENCE. 



Letter from Hon. Henry A. Wise, M. C., 


342 


From Hon. Henry Clay, U. S. Senator, 


344 




Governor William Slade, 


346 




President John Wheeler, 


- 34? 




' John McDuffee, 


348 




Washington A. Bacon, 


- 348 




' F. G. Parks, 


350 




' Andrew Bigelow, D. D., 


- 351 




' Hon. Justin S. Morrill, M. O, 


351 




' Lester Newell, P. M., 


- 352 




' Henry S. Swift, - 


523 




' Hon. J. W. D. Parker, 


- 353 




Emily B. Page, - 


356 




' Beuben Crook, - 


- 357 




Lucia B. McKinney 


357 




' Washington A. Bacon, 


- 359 




' Senator James W. Grimes, — - 


360 




Washington A. Bacon, 


362 




' Josiah T. Tubby, 


364 




Hon. Oran Faviile, 


365, 366, 367 




' Hon. Thomas H. Benton, 


368 




Hon. Oran Faviile, 


369, 370 




' Hon. John F. Dillon, 


- 371 




' Hon. E. H. Williams, 


371 




' Hon. Hiram Price, M. C, 


372 




Senator James W. Grimes, 


372 




' Hon. E. G. Bowdoin, 


- 373 




' Hon Jno. F. Diliioo, 


3,3 




< Hon. F. W. Palmer, 


374 




' Hon. Wm. H. Seward, 


374 




Col. Samuel F. Cooper, 


375 




< Winfield S. Eider, 


377, 388, 379 




' Hon. Wm. B. Allison, M. O, - 


379 




' Hon. N. C. Deering, 


381 




' Hon. Wm. B. Allison, M. C. - 


382 




' Washington A. Bacon, 


383, 385 




' Col. Thomas H. Benton, 


387, 388 




' Hon. Warner H. Curtis, 


390, 392 




' Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood, 


393 




' Hon. Oran Faviile, 


395 




' W. A. Bacon, 


396 




' L. L. Huntley, 


396 




Maria M. Faviile, 


397 




Jedediah Brown, 


398 




' Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen, 


400 to 406 




' James D. Clark, 


406 




' Mrs. J. M. Dixon, 


407 




' W. A. Bacon, 


- 408 




; Hon. D. N. Cooley, 


409 




W. A. Bacon, 


- 410 



CONTENTS. Vll 

From Senator James Harlan, - - 410 

James McKinney, Wife and Son, - - 411 

" Dudley Little, - 412 

" William H. Leonard, - - - 413 

" Mrs. Mary E. McGowan, - - - 414 

Alex. R. Spriggs, Esq., - - 417 

" Mrs. G. G. Reiniger, - 418,419,422,423 



PART FOURTH. 

LITERARY SELECTIONS. 



The Old Year and The New. 


424 


The Husband's Farewell, 


425 


Inconstancy Punished, 


426 


To One in Heaven, 


431 


Changes and Revolutions, 


- 432 


Thanksgiving, 


433 


Friendship, 


435 


Literary Pursuits, 


435 


State of Morals in Society, 


436 


Winter, - 


438 


Living by Speculation, 


439 


May Day, 


440 


Summer, 


440 


June, - 


442 


Advertising for Wives, 


443 


Literature, - - 


446 


The Death of a Beloved Companion, 


- 446 


Christmas, 


447 


Public Opinion, 


447 


Books, 


448 


Sketches of Travel, 


448 


Autumn, - 


455 


Relief for Ireland, 


458 


To My Mother, 


451 


The Connecticut Valley, 


4C2 


The Dying Wish, . - 


467 


The Beautiful in Nature, 


469 


Editorial Correspondence, 


471, 474, 475 


Hon. Isaac Hill, 


479 


Holyoke Weekly Mirror, 


480 


Holyoke, - _ ■ 


482 


"Lo, The Poor Indian !" 


483 


Independence Day in Holyoke, 1854, 


• 483 


The Old Arm Chair, 


489 


Editors' and Printers' Meeting, 


- 489 


Early Days, 


490 


School Teachers, 


491 


Library Meeting, 


492 


Sectional Feeling, 


494 


James Wilson, 


494 



Vlli CONTENTS. 

Life Let Us Cherish ... 495 

Editorial Correspondence from New York - - 496 

The Glorious Fourth in New York - - 501 

Hartford,. Connecticut - - 503 

The Hartford Steamers - - 506 

Happy Days - - 507 

Beyond the Mississippi - - 507 

Newspaper Publishers - - 508 

Intolerance - - 509 

Whig Meeting - - 509 

Pure Americanism - - 512 

Valedictory - - 513 

Letter from the West - - 515 

Salutatory - - - . 518 

DeKuyter DeWitt Carver - 522 

St. Charles - - - 523 

A Scene of Early Days in Charles City, Iowa - 526 

Lo ! The Poor Indian - 527 

Our Prairie Lands - 528 

Letter from Detroit - - 531 

New York Letter - - 535 

Letter from Boston - - . 537 

Letter from Vermont - - 533 

My Childhood's Home - 540 

Letter from Maine - 541 

Letter from the "Hub" - t - 544 

The Cedar Biver - - 546 

An Indian's Letter - - 547 

Great Anxiety and Excitement - 547 

Terrible Conflagration - - 548 

A Child's Faith - - - 550 

Obituary Notice — Calvin Stone - 550 

Death of Hon. J. B. Grinnell - 552 

Fidelity - - - - 553 

A Nice Present - 553 

Announcement - - 554 

Whistling Girls - 554 

Home, - - - 555 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 



PART FIRST. 



INTRODUCTION. 

THE desire to prevent one's name from falling 
into oblivion, appears to be inherent in man. 
The best and the greatest men have devoted their 
lives to the attainment of this one and all absorb- 
ing object. It was for this that a Caesar, an Alex- 
ander and a Napoleon toiled and struggled — and 
they accomplished their purpose. They accomp- 
lished it, however, only by striding over slaugh- 
tered millions, and wading through seas of human 
gore. Others have sought and have attained this 
object by a more peaceful and humane process. 
A Luther and a Melancthon, a Whitefield and a 
Wesley, an Eliott and a Judson would accomplish 
the same purpose, not by blood and carnage, but 
by ameliorating the temporal as well as spiritual 
condition of man, by spreading the glad tidings of 
the gospel of Jesus Christ among the benighted 
and superstitious, and raising their minds and 
thoughts from the groveling things of earth to 
those of heaven which are spiritual and eternal. 
They also accomplished their purpose. 

"Fanny Forrester, " (Mrs. Judson,) when in In- 



10 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

dia, once made the remark that, ' 'one is so hemmed 
in with graves that it is hardly worth while to 
make an effort to accomplish anything which shall 
perpetuate one's memory." This, it is believed, 
was stated under peculiarly distressing circum- 
stances — when the death of her husband, Doctor 
Adoniram Judson, the self- sacrificing missionary, 
was near at hand, and when her own health was 
so delicate that seemingly a breath of air would 
sunder the brittle thread of life. Still, we can 
here discover the desire, the longing, of her heart; 
the great aim of her life, — which was to build her- 
self a name that should last, — a desire, it would 
seem, entertained by woman as well as man. How- 
ever the name of the third wife of the great pio- 
neer missionary of the eastern world will live, 
notwithstanding her regrets. 

Others there are, and their name is legion, who 
have sought with equal assiduity to render their 
names immortal, and have failed. They may have 
shone for a while, but theirs was a meteor light 
which dazzled for a moment and then sank into 
obscurity and f orgetf ulness . 

Shakespeare has said that "some are born great, 
some achieve greatness, and some have greatness 
thrust upon them"; an aphorism that may be partly 
true and partly not in its general applicability. 
We can think of one individual, and one only, 
whose character embodied the three ideas; that 
individual was Washington! Not only was he born 
great, but he achieved greatness, and much against 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 11 

his inclination was greatness thrust upon him. 

His is 

"One of the few, the immortal names, 
That were not born to die !" 

But there is yet another class who claim special 
mention in connection with this subject of fame. 
Poets and philosophers may hold a lofty niche in 
the temple of fame, but it is the artisan and in- 
ventor who marks the age in which he lives and 
indelibly fixes his impress upon the world. The 
names of Arkwright and Pulton and Morse will 
live when the laurels of warrior chieftains have 
mouldered into dust. Theirs is a peaceful mission, 
and they are co-laborers with the missionary in 
the great work of ameliorating man's condition; 
of civilizing, refining and regenerating the world. 

To Richard Arkwright, a barber of Preston, in 
England, is the world indebted for the spinning 
frame, by which any number of threads, of any 
desirable fineness, may be spun. 

Edmund Cartwright, a Leicester clergyman, a 
few years later invented the power loom, and, put- 
ting the two inventions together, what untold bless- 
ings have been lavished upon mankind through 
their agency! 

Robert Fulton, of New York, has bestowed upon 
America the honor of first navigating the ocean 
by steam, whereby commerce is facilitated, and 
the comforts and even luxuries of life are greatly 
enhanced. 

Samuel F. B. Morse, another of America's sons, 
improving upon the discoveries of Franklin, has 



12 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

made the lightning of heaven subservient to man's 
convenience, and intercourse between the distant 
corners of the continents and the world is now 
held and carried on with the rapidity of thought. 

Here in these three instances is fame that well 
may be coveted. ' 'He who causes two blades of 
grass to grow where but one grew before is a 
greater benefactor to his race than the mightiest 
conqueror." Far more so must he be who spins 
myriads of threads while but one could be spun 
before; who, without wind or sail, can navigate 
the mighty deep; who can command the lightnings 
and they obey him! 

The inventors and artisans are of all men the 
least obtrusive; while none contribute so much as 
they toward civilization or the comforts and refine- 
ments of civilized life, nor so effectually prepare 
the human mind for receiving the pure and holy 
precepts of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The foregoing reflections and many others have 
crowded upon the mind of him who pens these 
lines as, on many occasions, it has been suggested 
to him that some record of the events of his life is 
not more due to himself and to posterity than it 
would prove acceptable to his friends. In defer- 
ence to these suggestions as much, and even more 
than to gratify a personal vanity, or a thirst for 
fame and immortality of name, the transitory na- 
ture of which is hinted at in the preceding para- 
graphs, has the writer been induced to furnish the 
editor with a record of certain facts and incidents 
connected with his life. H. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 13 



CHAPTER I. 



BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 



AZRO Benjamin Franklin Hildreth was born 
of worthy parents in the town of Chelsea, 
county of Orange and state of Vermont, on the 
29th day of February, (leap year,) A. D., 1816. 
He was the eldest of a family of twelve children — 
six sons and six daughters. At an early age he 
manifested a fondness for letters, and there can 
be no doubt that his name, (Benjamin Franklin, 
for whom his father entertained a high estima- 
tion,) had an influence in shaping his subsequent 
career. 

Of his ancestry but little need be said. His 
father, Daniel Hildreth, was born in the town of 
Pepperell, in Massachusetts, on May 2d, 1783, and 
at an early age removed, with his parents, to the 
town of Corinth, Orange county, Vermont. He 
afterwards, and for several years, resided in Hav- 
erhill, New Hampshire, where he was an inmate 
of the family of John Page; the John Page, after- 
wards a Senator in Congress and Governor of New 
Hampshire, (a son of the former,) was Daniel 
Hildreth's life-long friend. 

James Hildreth, father of Daniel Hildreth, and 



14 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was of 
the old Puritan stock and of English origin. His 
family were brought up after the straiglitest man- 
ner of the Puritans, and Daniel, his son, imbibed 
and retained through life many of the character- 
istics of these founders of a pure morality and 
pious enthusiasm, and sought in his turn to im- 
press the same upon his children. The mother of 
Daniel Hildreth, and wife of James Hildreth, was 
Esther Fletcher, daughter of Lieutenant Timothy 
Fletcher, ofWestford, Massachusetts; a gentleman 
of some note at the time of and previous to the 
Revolutionary war, and whose family name, as 
well as that of Hildreth, has been somewhat dis- 
tinguished to the. present time. Daniel Webster's 
first wife was of that family, and their oldest son 
bore the cognomen of Fletcher Webster. 

It appears that, many centuries ago, religious 
persecution in Switzerland drove out from that 
land of William Tell certain families named Heil- 
dreich. These refugees found an asylum in the 
northern part of England and became agricultur- 
ists. Still wishing to enjoy their own religious 
opinions, instead of espousing the polity of the 
Church of England or Episcopalians, they became 
Dissenters or as they were nicknamed, "Puritans." 
From year to year, after the landing of the Pil- 
grims on Plymouth Rock in 1620, small companies 
of these English Puritans would cross the ocean 
and join their brethren in America. Among these 
immigrants, in 1640, was one Richard Heildreich. 
who, at first, settled in Woburn, near Boston, and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 15 

afterwards in Chelmsford, on the Merrimac river, 

where his body now lies buried in the Chelmsford 

cemetery, three or four miles above Lowell. 

From this Richard Heildreich descended all the 

Hildreths in America. 

In the public records of the "G-eneral Court 

(Legislature) of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 

in New England," now in the State Library at Des 

Moines, Iowa, vol. 4, part 2d, page 100, is found 

this paragraph: 

"1664, May 18. In answer to the petition of 
Richard Heildreich, of Chelmsford, humbly crav- 
ing the favor of this Court to consider his necessi- 
tous condicon and grant him some lands, this 
Court judgeth it meete to grant him one hundred 
and fifty acres of vpland and meadow where it 
may conveniently be found, not pjudjciall to any 
plantation." 

The above is the first mention of the name of 
Hildreth to be found in these "Records." There 
can be no doubt that Richard is a family name, 
and that the above-named Richard Heildreich was 
the ancestor of Richard Hildreth the historian of 
the United States, and who was at one time editor 
of the "Boston Atlas" newspaper. 

It appears that the grant of land asked for was 
afterwards confirmed, for on page 441 of the above- 
named volume is found the following record: 

"12 October, 1669. The grant of this Court to 
Richard Heildreich of Chelmsford of one hundred 
& fifty acres of wast land lajd out by David Fisk. 
surveyo 1 ' and bounded w th Concord lyne on the 
South -East; Capt. Daniel Gookins 1 farm northerly 
and the wilderness elsewhere surrounding, accord- 
ing to a plat returned, and is on file w th the Rec- 



16 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ords of this Court, w ch the Court allowes and ap- 
prooves of." 

The above are the only two instances in which 
the name of Hildreth occurs in these volumes, 
which only bring the history of Massachusetts 
down to about the close of the 16th century. 

After leaving Switzerland the orthography of 
the name underwent various changes, as it passed 
through England and came down from one gener- 
ation to another in America. It is said there are 
many families of the name of Heildreich in Switz- 
erland at the present day. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 17 



CHAPTER II. 

SKETCH BY RICHARD HILDRETH. 

IN the rooms of the New England Historical and 
Genealogical Association in Boston there are 
several publications which give more or less in- 
formation regarding the history of the Hildreths. 
Prom one of these works the following article is 
taken : 

ORIGIN AND GENEALOGY 
OP 

THE AMERICAN HILDRETHS, 

WRITTEN APRIL 2, 1856, 
BY RICHARD HILDRETH, HISTORIAN. 

The Hildreths may fairly be reckoned among 
the earliest settlers who migrated from England 
to North America. Those of New England, 
whence there are offshoots in several of the West- 
ern and some of the Southern States, are probably 
all descended from a single ancestor, one Richard 
Hildreth, whose name I bear and from whom I am 
the sixth in descent. 

The first notice of this Richard Hildreth, (or 
Hildrick, Heildreich, Heildreth, as the name is 
variously spelled in the old colonial records) is his 



18 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

admission, May 10th, 1643, (that is, within fifteen 
years after the grant of the Massachusetts charter 
and when he was himself 35 years old,) as a free- 
man of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. How 
much earlier he had immigrated to the colony 
does not appear. It seems probable that he set- 
tled first at Woburn, about ten miles northwest of 
Boston, which first became a separate town in 
1642, having till then constituted the upper or in- 
land part of Charlestown. Richard Hildreth re- 
ceived grants of eight separate lots of land, 
amounting in the whole to 105 acres. Subsequent- 
ly, in 1664, he received an additional grant of 150 
acres. 

This Richard Hildreth lies buried in the ancient 
graveyard of Chelmsford, three or four miles from 
the city of Lowell, Mass. One of his children was 
James Hildreth of whom there is mention in the 
Chelmsford records and who was admitted a free- 
man of the colony in 1665. Another Richard, son 
of James, died February 22d, 1692. Joseph Hil- 
dreth, son of the first Richard, had a son Joseph 
born in 1695. This second Joseph, grandson of 
Richard the founder of the family in America, was 
the father of my grandfather Timothy Hildreth, 
born in 1756. Not yet 20 years of age, he was 
sent to aid in the siege of Boston with his father's 
team of oxen, and was one of the party employed 
in transporting the f arcines to Dorchester Heights 
out of which we constructed the fortifications by 
means of which the British were driven out of 
Boston. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 19 

All the Hildreths, so far as I have known them, 
were rather a sensitive set. The business of farm- 
ing, until more recently, seems to have been the 
general occupation of the Hildreths, both in Eng- 
land and America. 

From these Westford and Chelmsford Hildreths 
came the Hildreths of Dracut. Dr. Israel Hil- 
dreth still lives there. He is father of Fisher Ames 
Hildreth, postmaster of Lowell, and of a daughter 
now the wife of Benjamin F. Butler. 

Another offshoot of the family, fifth in descent 
from the original Richard, was Dr. Benjamin Hil- 
dreth of Methuen and father of Dr. Samuel P. 
Hildreth of Marietta, Ohio. A brother of Dr. H. 
of Methuen, settled in Hillsborough, N. H. An- 
other brother settled in Concord, Mass., and was 
a Revolutionary patriot. 

My grandfather emigrated to Vermont, and 
afterwards returned to Sterling, Mass. My father 
Hozea was one of a family of ten children. He 
was for many years an instructor in Phillips Acad- 
emy at Exter, N. H., and afterwards minister of 
the Gospei in the old Congregational church at 
Gloucester, Mass.; the only clergyman of the 
name that I have heard of. Many of the family 
have been graduates of Harvard College. 

I have seen a book written by James Hildreth in 
1836, entitled "Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky 
Mountains." 

In the tax list of Southampton, Mass. , published 
in 1683, are found the names of James Hildreth 
rated at £30, Joseph Hildreth at £100, and Jona- 
than Hildreth at £30. 



20 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

In 1799 there was published in London. Eng- 
land, "The Hiliad," a poem in honor of the victory 
obtained by the British fleet under Nelson over a 
superior fleet of the French, off the mouth of the 
Nile, August 1st, 1798, by William Hildreth. 

Finding in the London directory for 1855 the 
names of John Hildreth and George James Hil- 
dreth, I took the liberty to write them, and both 
replied with great promptitude and politeness. 
Mr. Geo. James Hildreth, a member of the mercan- 
tile firm of Tory & Hildreth, Navy Agents, Lon- 
don, proved to be the son of the author of the epic 
poem mentioned above. These Hildreths were 
from the north of England where their families 
had long been residents, and farming was their 
occupation. 

A large proportion of the emigrants to New 
England were from the north part of England, 
and from that quarter I have no doubt our Amer- 
ican Hildreths came. At home, as here, they seem 
to have been a generation of agriculturists, and 
only of late years deviating into other pursuits. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 21 



CHAPTER III. 



THE HISTORIAN HILDRETH. 



RICHARD Hildreth, the historian and writer of 
the foregoing" sketch, was born June 28, 1807, 
in Deerfield, Mass. ; his father being preceptor of 
the academy at that place. He afterwards removed 
to Exter, N. H., where Richard was fitted for col- 
lege. He, Richard, contributed to various newspa- 
pers and magazines, viz: Sarah J. Hale's, Willis's 
and Buckingham's New England Magazine. In 
1832 he was editor of the "Boston Atlas." He wrote 
and published various books, viz: "The White 
Slave," "Banks and Banking," "Theory of Mor- 
als," "Theory of Politics," and other works. He 
wrote a "Life of President William Henry Har- 
rison," "Japan as it Was and Is," "Atrocious 
Judges," &c. 

But Richard Hildreth's principal literary pro- 
duction was his "History of the United States" — 
1849 — 1856 — in six volumes. He was consul to 
Trieste, appointed by President Lincoln, and was 
afterwards contributor to the New York Tribune. 
He abhorred everything like the tinsel of fine 
writing, and adhered to facts. He was an ardent 
politician, decided in the utterance of opinions, 



22 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

vehement and caustic, quick and destructive as 
lightning in dealing with antagonists. He did not 
receive full justice for the finer qualities of his 
head and heart. His friends claimed for him a 
sweetness of nature that called forth sympathy 
and love. He seemed unconscious of the force of 
his denunciations. He died at Florence, Italy. 
July 11th, 1866, aged 58 years. — Records of the N. E. 
Historical and Genealogical Association. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 23 



CHAPTER IV. 



DR. S. P. HILDRETH. 



F 



ROM the N. E. Genealogical Records is taken 
the following sketch of Samuel Prescott Hil- 
dreth, M. D., who was born in Methuen, Mass., 
September 30, 1783. His boyhood was passed on 
his father's farm. He was educated at Exter, N. H. 
He became a physician of great eminence after 
settling in Marietta, Ohio. He writes: "After a 
laborious practice of medicine for 55 years, I, two 
years ago, (1861,) laid it entirely aside." He was 
then 78 years old. He had been a Representative 
in the Ohio Legislature; was a supporter of Jeffer- 
son and Madison, and also of Lincoln. He was 
well known at home and abroad for his scientific 
labors.- for various publications in medicine, and 
in local biography and history. In 1848 he pub- 
lished his -'Pioneer History," an 8vo vol. of 525 
pages, giving an account of the settlements of the 
Northwest Territory. He collected more than 4000 
specimens in Natural History. They occupy a 
room in one of the college buildings at Marietta, 
and are known as the "Hildreth Cabinet." He 
was a cheerful man, loved beauty, was fond of 
flowers, which he cultivated diligently. He died 



24 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

at Marietta July 24, 1863, aged 80 years. He was 
a descendant in the sixth generation from Richard 
Hildreth, born in 1612, who was a Sergeant in the 
militia and one of the grantees of Chelmsford. 
Mass., where he died in 1688. 

Dr. S. P. Hildreth of Marietta was a member of 
the Congregational Church. The Marietta Regis- 
ter, in closing a sketch of his life, says : * k He was 
exact in all his dealings, an honest man, a Christ- 
ian. His was a complete life,*' and adds: 

"His life was gentle ; and the elements 

So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world : This was a man !" 






AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 25 



CHAPTER V. 



THE TYLER FAMILY. 



IT was while residing in the family of the Pages, 
at Haverhill, N. H. , that Daniel Hildreth became 
acquainted with, and was subsequently married to, 
Clarissa Tyler, daughter of Jonathan Tyler, of 
Piermont, N. H. 

This family of Tylers were from Hebron, Con- 
necticut, where Jonathan was born in 1753. He, 
with his father's family and that of an uncle, re- 
moved from there up the valley of the Connecticut 
river, when that country was quite new, and were 
among the very first to settle in the town of Pier- 
mont. Another member of the family removed 
from Connecticut to New Jersey and thence to 
Virginia. From this branch descended John Ty- 
ler, once President of the United States. Origin- 
ally, the Tylers were from England. 

The wife of Jonathan Tyler was Sarah McCon- 
nell, to whom he was married shortly after settling 
in Piermont, when she was of the tender age of 
twelve and a half years. She was of Scotch ori- 
gin, born in Pembroke, N. H. , in 1762, whence she 
removed with her parents to Piermont. She was 
of fair complexion, and her beauty so won the 



26 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

affections of young Tyler that, young as she was, 
he was induced to propose marriage and was ac- 
cepted. She reared a numerous family of child- 
ren, and died in 1815, at the age of 53 years, 
beloved and respected by all who knew her. Her 
husband, Jonathan Tyler, lived to the advanced 
age of 96 years, and died in 1848 at Piermont, 
N. H. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 27 



CHAPTER VI. 

HISTORY OP THE TYLER FAMILY. 

THE following brief record of the family of 
Tylers in America was found among the pa- 
pers of Rev. Amos Tyler, after his decease, at Big 
Spring, Adams county, Wisconsin, and is believed 
to be accurate, so far as it goes: 

About the year 1682 a family of emigrants ar- 
rived from England bearing the name of Tyler. 
The father's Christian name is unknown. His 
sons' names were: Daniel, David and John. Dan- 
iel settled in Connecticut, David in Massachusetts 
and John in New Jersey, but subsequently went to 
Virginia. 

The descendants of Daniel were: Daniel Jr., 
Ebenezer, David, Jonathan, and two daughters, 
Nellie and Sarah. 

The descendants of Ebenezer were: Joseph, 
Samuel, Oliver, Hubbard, Amasa, and four daugh- 
ters. 

The descendants of David were: David Jr., Jes- 
se, John, James, Samuel, and two daughters, An- 
na and Pheba. 

The descendants of Jonathan were: Daniel, 
William, Amos, and one boy unnamed who died in 



28 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

infancy, and nine girls, Hannah, Polly, Betsey, 
Lydia, Sarah, Clarissa, Lucy, Theodosia, and 
Eliza. 

The descendants of Daniel, (Jonathan Tyler's 
son,) were Ira and Oscar. 

The descendants of William were: Harriet, 
Roxie, Sarah and Michael. 

The descendants of Amos were: Damon Y., 
Amanda M., Roxie C, Amos E. ; and Amanda L., 
Nahum A. , and Ursula — three who died when quite 
young. 

The descendants of Damon Young Tyler were 
Lawrence S. E., Leonora, Lydia and Lewis. 

The descendants of Amanda M. were: Victor 
D. N. , Vinton and Verna Richardson. 

Hannah Tyler, daughter of Jonathan Tyler, 
married Jonathan Hartwell. 

Polly Tyler married Samuel Danforth. 

Sarah Tyler married Lawson Drury and settled 
in Ohio in 1816, in Scotia county, at a place known 
then as "French Grant," on or near the Ohio river. 
[Roxie C. Tyler writes: 'T have heard father say 
that she had two sons whom he had seen, who 
were near his own age; one was a preacher of the 
gospel, and the other a physician. She had other 
children but father did not know them."] 

Lydia married Samuel Davis, and for her second 
husband John Hartwell, and for her third husband 
a Mr. Boynton. 

Clarissa married Daniel Hildreth, and was the 
mother of Azro Benjamin Franklin Hildreth, and 
eleven other children. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 29 

Lucy married Amos Giles. (No children. ) 

Theodosia married Winthrop G. Torsey. 

Amos married Lydia Bliss, and for his second 
wife Imogene C. Todd. 

Eliza married Cummings Blood. 

Betsey died when about twenty years of age, a 
few days after Amos was born. Just before . her 
death she gave Amos his name. [Roxie C. Tyler 
says: "I have heard father say that one of his 
cousins, I think his name was Oliver, settled in 
New York and had a dozen sons. Their names I 
cannot remember, but almost every profession 
was represented in the family. One of the sons 
went to Ohio, and one at least to Pennsylvania."] 

The foregoing history of the Tylers was sent 
from Michigan to A. B. F. Hildreth', by Roxie 
Cutting Tyler, his cousin, under date of April 13, 
1879. 



30 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER VII. 

DANIEL HILDRETH'S FAMILY. 

k F the grandparents upon the Hildreth side it 
may be stated that James Hildreth removed 
from Corinth, Vermont, to Stanstead in Canada, 
where he died in 1818, aged 73 years. His wife, 
Esther, after his death, went to live with her son, 
Daniel, in Chelsea, Vermont, where she died in 
1826, at the ripe old age of 80 years. 

We now come to speak more particularly of 
Daniel Hildreth and Clarissa his wife. They were 
united in wedlock at the home of the bride's par- 
ents in Piermont, N. H., on June 9th, 1814, Rev. 
Jonathan Hovey being the officiating clergyman. 
They immediately removed to their new home in 
Cheslea, Vermont, where a farm had been pur- 
chased, on which but slight improvements had 
been made. Here they, with toil and patience, 
made them a home which they in time surrounded 
with many of the comforts and some of the luxur- 
ies of life, and here they raised a large family of 
children. Upon their marriage and settlement in 
their new home, in Vermont, they were fully im- 
pressed with the fact that, with them, a new era 
had commenced in life's pilgrimage and one com- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 31 

mon interest was the actuating motive of both. By 
the industry and enterprise of the husband his 
farm, which at first was almost entirely covered 
with the rugged trees of the forest, soon became 
''cleared up," and, instead of the giant maples and 
other trees, there might be seen waving in the 
breeze fields of golden grain. In other words, 
"the wilderness was made to blossom as the rose." 

While the dense forest lands were being con- 
verted into meadows and pastures and cultivated 
patches — all showing that a bountiful Providence 
had blessed the labors of the husbandman — on the 
other hand, the wife contributed her fnll quota 
toward their mutual prosperity, and used every 
means to render home pleasant and agreeable, and 
a happy retreat for her husband, after the fatigues 
of the day. 

The record of births and deaths of this family is 
as follows: 

BIRTHS OF PARENTS. 

Daniel Hildreth, son of James and Esther 
(Fletcher) Hildreth, was born in Pepperell, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 2d, 1782. 

Clarissa (Tyler) Hildreth was born in Piermont, 
New Hampshire, July 5th, 1794. 



BIRTHS OF CHILDREN. 

Azro Benjamin Franklin Hildreth, born Feb. 29, 
1816. 
Almira Maria Hildreth, born Feb. 10, 1818. 
George Washington Hildreth, born May 14, 1820. 
Daniel Elbridge Hildreth, born July 18, 1822. 



32 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Mary Caroline Hildreth, born August 5, 1824. 

Lucy Tyler Hildreth, born Dec. 6. 1826, and a 
twin brother born and died the same day. 

Albert Gallatin Hildreth, born Feb. 25, 1829. 

Harriet Newell Hildreth, born April 25, 1831. 

Lovinia Greenleaf Hildreth, born August 30. 
1834. 

Amelia Brown Hildreth, born October 24, 1837. 

An infant son born and died March 16, 1840. 

All these births of children of Daniel Hildreth. 
were in Cheslea, Orange county, Vermont. 



DEATHS OF PARENTS. 

Daniel Hildreth, (father) died in Chelsea, Ver- 
mont, November 16, 1858, aged 75 years, 6 months 
and 14 days. 

Clarissa Hildreth (mother) died in Vershire. 
Vermont, April 16, 1870, aged 75 years, 9 months 
and 11 days. 



DEATHS OF CHILDREN. 

Lucy Tyler Hildreth died in Chelsea, Vermont. 
March 3, 1842, aged 15 years, 2 months and 27 
days. 

George Washington Hildreth died in Cheslea, 
Vermont, July 8th 1844, aged 24 years, 1 month 
and 24 days. 

Lovinia Greenleaf Hildreth died in Lowell. 
Massachusetts, August 21. 1854, aged 19 years, 11 
months and 21 days. 

Amelia Brown Hildreth died in Corinth, Ver- 
mont, May 19, 1861, aged 23 years, 6 months and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 33 

25 days. [She was the wife of Samuel W. Burt, 
and died in childbed.] 

Daniel Elbridge Hildreth died at South New- 
bury Vermont, July 22, 1874, (of cancer on the 
face and brain,) aged 52 years and 4 days. 

Mary Caroline (Hildreth) McCoy died in Lowell, 
Massachusetts, April 15, 1886, aged 61 years, 8 
months and 10 days. 



Added to the foregoing family record of Daniel 
and Clarissa Hildreth is the following family rec- 
ord of their children: 

Azro Benjamin Franklin Hildreth, born in Chel- 
sea, Orange county, Vermont, Feb. 29, 1816. 

Hannah D. L. Rier, born in Newburyport, Mas- 
sachusetts, Nov. 9, 1819, died in Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, May 20, 1841. Azro and Hannah 
were married in Newburyport, Mass., October 24, 
1839. No children. 

Olive F. Fuller, born in Sumner, Oxford county, 
Maine, Nov. 16, 1822, died in Bradford, Orange 
county, Vermont, Jan. 26, 1844. Azro and Olive 
were married in Lowell, Mass., February 6, 1842. 
No children. 

Liveria A. Knight, born in Surry, Cheshire 
county, New Hampshire, June 11, 1817. Azro and 
Liveria were married in Fryeburg, Maine, Oct. 
21, 1844. One child, named 

Mary Liveria Aurette, born in Bradford Vt., 
June 23, 1851, died in Charles City, Iowa, Nov. 
29, 1857. 



Almira Maria Hildreth, born in Chelsea, Orange 
county, Vt., Feb. 10, 1818. 



34 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Edward Wason, born in Corinth, Orange county, 
Vt., Dec. 9, 1801, died in Corinth, Vt., March 11, 
1883. Almira and Edward were married in Mont- 
pelier, Vt., Oct. 22, 1854. Two children, 

Myra, born in Corinth, Vt., April 12, 1859, and 
Laura, born in Corinth, Vt., Nov. 20, 1861. 



Daniel Elb ridge Hildreth, born in Chelsea, Or- 
ange county, Vt., July 18, 1822, died at South 
Newbury, Orange county, Vt., July 22, 1874. 

Emeline A. Mason, born at North Lyman, Graf- 
ton Co., N. H., Dec. 4, 1833. Daniel and Emeline 
were married at North Lyman, Grafton Co. , New 
Hampshire, June 7, 1854. Their children were: 

Amanda L., born in Chelsea, Vt., Jan. 4, 1856, 
died at South Newbury, Vt., October 1, 1879. 

Lucy E. K. born in Chelsea, Vt., May 13, 1857, 
died at South Newbury, Vt., March 27, 1877. 

Philip D. W., born in Bradford, Vt., May 30, 
1868. 



Mary Caroline Hildreth, born in Cheslea, Or- 
ange Co., Vt., August 5, 1824, died in Lowell, 
Mass., April 15, 1886. 

Charles McCoy, born in Peterborough. New 
Hampshire, Sept. 28, 1827. Mary and Charles 
were married in Lowell, Mass., April 30, 1852., 
Their children were: 

Charles Albert, born in Peterborough, N. H., 
Dec. 23, 1853, and died in Lowell, Mass., Dec. 30, 
1854. 

Frank Edwin, born in Lowell, Mass., Oct. 17, 
1855, and died in Lowell, Mass., August 3, 1890. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 35 

Fred Milton, born in Lowell, Mass., April 20, 
1857, and died in Lowell, Mass., Nov. 11, 1860. 

George Edgar, born in Lowell, Mass., Oct. 20, 
1859, and died in Lowell, Mass., Oct. 30, 1874. 

Albin Francis, born in Lowell, Mass., Nov. 2, 
1861. 

Edward Clarence, born in Peterborough, N. H. , 
Sept. 4, 1863. 

Mary Clara, born in Peterborough, N. H. , March 
4, 1866. 



Harriet Newell Hildreth, born in Chelsea,, Or- 
ange Co., Vt. April 25, 1831. 

Lyman Porter, born in Worcester, Washington 
Co., Vt., Aug. 17, 1827. Harriet and Lyman were 
married in Chelsea, Vt., February 6, 1855. Their 
children were: 

Lovinia H., born in Corinth, Vt., Aug. 31, 1856, 
died Sept. 24, 1862. 

Mary Liveria H. , born in Corinth, Vt. , July 8, 
1858, died November 12, 1862. 

Infant son, born Nov. 8, 1860, died Dec. 12, 1860. 

Manella Frances, born in Corinth, Vt. , May 17, 
1862, died October 4. 1862. 

Julia Mead, born in Corinth, Vt., Nov. 20, 1863, 
died January 31, 1864. 

John Lyman, born in Corinth, Vt., Dec. 12, 1864. 

Levi, born in Corinth, Vt., May 3, 1868, died 
Nov. 3, 1870. 



Albert Gallatin Hildreth, born in Chelsea, Or- 
ange Co., Vt., February 25, 1829. 
Mary M. Barnes, born in Waitsfield, Washing- 



36 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ton Co., Vt., Sept. 30, 1832, and died in Lowell, 
Mass. , Dec. 17, 1874. Albert and Mary were mar- 
ried in Montpelier, Vt., Feb. 3, 1853. Children: 

George W., born in Montpelier, Vt., Nov. 26, 
1853. 

Charles McCoy, born in Corinth, Vt. , August 6, 
1856. 

AlvinB., born in Corinth, Vt., Oct. 14, 1857, 
died in Pepperell, Mass., Dec. 21, 1881. 

Mary Clarissa, born in Thetford, Vt., Dec. 4, 
1859. 

Azro B. F., born in Thetford, Vt., May 20, 1862. 

James A. Garfield, born in Lowell, Mass. , July 
16, 1881, son of the above-named Azro B. F., and 
adopted by Albert G. and his second wife as their 
own son. 

Abbie R. Lawrence, born in Buxton, Maine, 
Nov. 5, 1826. Albert and Abbie were married in 
Lowell, Mass. , February 24, 1876. No children. 



Amelia Brown Hildreth, born in Chelsea Vt. , 
Oct. 24, 1837, died in Corinth, Orange Co., Vt., 
May 19, 1861. 

Samuel W. Burt, born in Orange, Orange Co., 
Vt., February 20, 1837, died in St. Johnsbury. 
Caledonia Co. , Vt., February 15, 1886.. Amelia 
and Samuel were married in Chelsea, Vt. , Nov. 3, 
1859. One child, 

Freddie, a son, born in Corinth, Vt. , May 5, 
1861, and died in Corinth, Vt., Nov. 3, 1862. 

All the other children of Daniel and Clarissa 
Hildreth died unmarried, some in early years and 
others in infancy. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 37 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THEIR FIRST BORN. 



FROM extreme infancy the subject of this me- 
moir, (Azro B. F. Hildreth,) manifested an 
unusual fondness for books. Often has the moth- 
er said that in his crying moments, (for children 
will cry, ) nothing would so quickly appease him as 
the gift of some book. The primer, toy-books, 
&c, given him by parents and friends, were pre- 
served with the strictest care — not a leaf was 
allowed to be torn or soiled, notwithstanding they 
were perused and re -perused with the utmost dili- 
gence. When first permitted to attend the district 
school, at the age of four years, how his young 
heart leaped for joy! It was his constant effort 
and pride to stand at the head of his class, and in 
this he was successful beyond a majority of his 
school-mates. While young the father often 
avowed his determination to give this, his eldest, 
a liberal education, but this determination was 
never fulfilled. However, such was his proficien- 
cy in the various branches taught in the district 
schools and academies of that day, and which were 
deemed most essential in the ordinary transaction 
of business, that, at the early age of sixteen years, 



38 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

| 

his services were engaged as teacher in a district 
school. He had the good fortune, notwithstand- 
ing his youth, to prosecute the labors of the 
school-room successfully and to the acceptance of 
all concerned. Many of his scholars were grown 
up young men and young women. His own weight 
at that time was but 113 pounds. He had never 
shaved, and the large girls called him their 
"beardless school-master." This school was in 
Piermont, N. H. 

In his earlier years Mr. Hildreth was called 
Azro by all members of the family — a favorite 
name given him by his mother. The Benjamin 
Franklin, sandwiched into his name, was the work 
of his father, who was an admirer of the life of 
that eminent self-made man. In later years the 
family relatives dropped the name of Azro and 
substituted "Frank,'' and he was ever afterwards 
called and known by this latter name among his 
immediate relatives. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 39 



CHAPTER IX. 

A PISCATORIAL ADVENTURE. 

VHEN at the age of four to six years, Azro 
and his little sister Almira were accustomed 
to drive the cows to pasture in the morning, and 
go for them at night. A small brook or creek ran 
across the pasture in which there were many of 
those speckled beauties called brook trout. When 
driving the cows they would daily cross this 
stream and naturally took a look at the finny tribe 
as they floated up and down in its pellucid waters. 
The trout is a lively fish, and very timid. Azro 
had heard the larger boys explain their method of 
catching them by approaching the bank of the 
stream quietly and if possible behind some stump 
or stone so as not to be seen by the fish when the 
baited hook was dropped into the water at or near 
the fishes' hiding place. In a deep hole beneath 
an overhanging stump the youthful cow-boy had 
noticed many times some large trouts that seemed 
very tempting to him. He teased his mother for 
fishing tackle that he might try his luck at an- 
gling. She fitted him out with a bent pin for a 
hook attached to a line and small rod, the hook 
being baited with a bit of salt pork. Thus 



40 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

equipped Azro and his little sister sallied forth on 
their piscatorial venture. Creeping 1 up behind the 
old stump he carefully dropped his hook into the 
deep water beneath it, when suddenly a large 
trout took the bait and with an excited jerk was 
thrown thirty or forty feet into the air! Fortun- 
ately the fish fell upon the ground and was picked 
up by the little sister, who was sharing with her 
brother this first venture of theirs in the famous 
sports of Izaak Walton. Of course the mother 
cooked the fish for their dinner. 

This incident made a lasting impress upon their 
memories and was more than once referred to in 
their declining years when writing to each other. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 41 



CHAPTER X. 



THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 



WHILE living- in Iowa, and at the age of nearly 
sixty years, Mr. Hildreth made a visit to 
the old homestead. The property had passed out 
of possession of the Hildreth family and was 
owned and occupied by Mr. Azro Hood, a school- 
mate of early days. % One of the first acts after 
arriving there was to procure fishing tackle and 
try his luck again at the trout-brook in the old cow 
pasture. He sought the deep trout hole under the 
stump, but all this had disappeared by a change 
in the course of the stream. However, he imme- 
diately caught a fish at another place near there, 
and was a boy again! 

This trivial adventure called up a thousand 
memories of his youthful life. The farm and all 
the surroundings showed the marks of time. 
True, the buildings had been kept in good repair, 
but fences had been changed, groves and shrub- 
bery had sprung up in some places and in others 
no timber was left. A good sugar orchard re- 
mained and a treat of maple sugar was given him. 
In the old apple orchard many trees had been 
named for different members of the family. Some 



42 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of these remained, while others had wholly disap- 
peared. A taste of some of the apples from these 
old and favorite trees was afforded him by the 
kindness of Mr. Hood and his good wife, and it 
really seemed to Mr. Hildreth that he was living" 
over again his youthful life. But no mother and 
no father was there. They had departed from the 
scenes of earth. Brothers and sisters had no 
home there. What a melancholy pleasure did all 
this prove! From the farm Mr. Hildreth proceed- 
ed to the village cemetery, 

"Where all the dead forgotten lie." 

No, not all. Here were the graves of those wor- 
thy parents and several children of that once 
large and happy family. It was a desideratum 
with Mr. Hildreth to visit this hallowed spot and 
there drop a tear over the graves of his kindred. 
All around were the graves of friends whom he 
had known in former years. 

"Companions of my youth, where are they?" 
In the sublime words of the poet, Gray : 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 

Await, alike, the inevitable hour ; — 
The paths of glory lead, — but to the grave !" 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 43 



CHAPTER XL 

AT A BOARDING SCHOOL. 

WHEN only nine years old, little Azro was 
placed in a private boarding house in Chel- 
sea village for the purpose of attending the high 
school there. Among the different branches of 
study given him was that of English Grammar. 
In a few weeks he had committed to memory and 
recited to his teacher the entire contents of his 
grammar book, a text book prepared by Prof. 
Ruf us Nutting, at that time the Principal of Ran- 
dolph, Vt., Academy. The teacher of the high 
school had not taken much pains to explain the 
rules laid down in the grammar book; but one day, 
while visiting home, the mother, who was a good 
grammarian for those days, gave the lad some les- 
sons in parsing, and showed him the relations 
which words composing a sentence bore to each 
other. When required to apply the rules which 
he had memorized, he at once saw their applica- 
tion, and f rorn that time ever afterwards he was 
fond of the slmdy and became an excellent gram- 
marian. Usually, with most students, grammar 
is a dry, dull study, and is generally disliked by 
new beginners. Not so with Azro. He was de- 
lighted whenever the grammar class was called 
for recitation Or for exercises in parsing. 



44 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XII. 



A YOUNG FARMER. 



NOTWITHSTANDING his love of books, Azro 
Ltook much interest in the work upon his 
father's farm. During the absence of his father 
from home he would take with him his younger 
brothers, George and Daniel, and go over the farm 
putting up and repairing the fences. He felt af- 
terward amply compensated on overhearing his 
father praise his work to his mother. On other 
occasions when not a dozen years old, in the ab- 
sence of his father, he would yoke the oxen and 
engage in plowing a patch of ground for potatoes 
or corn, of which he was sometimes allowed a 
small per cent. Just so was it in the care of stock 
— the sheep and lambs, the cows and calves, the 
colts, pigs, &c. Still there was a wide difference 
in the tastes manifested by him and his brothers. 
On stormy days, when out-door work was suspend- 
ed, he would be found in some retired place en- 
gaged in the study of books and papers, while one 
brother would be at the barn busy with breaking 
colts and steers, and another would be in the 
workshop manufacturing trucks or sleds. But if 
the mother desired work done in the garden, or 
anything particularly mechanical, where taste and 
care were required, Azro was usually called upon 
to do it, in preference to either of the other boys. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 45 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE SCRIBNER FAMILY. 



jN a neighboring farm, some two miles distant 
from the Hildreths, lived a family named 
Scribner, having five sons and five daughters. 
The father was a profane, drinking man, and all 
were deficient in education. But among these 
children was one son who, at the age of twenty 
years, decided that he would have an education 
and do something and be somebody in the world. 
His name was John Marstin Scribner. On rainy 
days, when the men could not work on the farm, 
this young man was in the habit of visiting Azro 
Hildreth, then ten years old, for the purpose of 
being instructed by him in English grammar. 
This young Scribner subsequently graduated from 
Union College at Schenectady, then took a theo- 
logical course, married the daughter of a Mohawk 
Dutchman, and was settled over a Dutch Reformed 
Church in Rochester, N. Y. He was the author 
of several scientific works, such as Civil Engineer- 
ing, &c, by Rev. J. M. Scribner. On one occa- 
sion he rendered „ a special favor to his old-time 
friend, Hildreth, which will be explained here- 
after. 



46 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XIV. 

VARIOUS UNDERTAKINGS. 

FOR several years young Hildreth was accus- 
tomed to teach school in the winter season, 
and in the spring and summer render his father 
what assistance he could upon the farm. The 
woodpile was to be chopped, and the fire-wood for 
the summer prepared and piled up in the wood- 
shed. Then there was that more delightful work 
of making maple sugar which must not be omitted, 
as this was to supply the family mainly with 
sweets for the coming year. After the more 
pressing work of the season was over, such as 
haying and harvesting, Azro was allowed to attend 
a neighboring academy during the fall term, pre- 
paratory to teaching school in the winter. On 
certain occasions, after closing his winter school, 
he would teach a writing school for a few weeks — 
sometimes in Vermont, and sometimes in New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts. 

Among Azro's favorite school teachers was a 
young man named Washington A. Bacon, who was 
also a farmer's son, raised in the neighboring town 
of Washington. He was wide awake, energetic, 
ambitious, and possessed a remarkably happy fac- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 47 

ulty for imparting' instruction to his pupils. Un- 
der his tuition young Azro made excellent pro- 
gress and a warm friendship sprang up between 
them. 

This Mr. Bacon, filled with the spirit of advent- 
ure, left the paternal roof and migrated to the 
then far West, traveling by the way of the Erie 
Canal and the Lakes. He visited Fort Mackinac, 
where the Government maintained quite a large 
garrison of soldiers, and was there engaged . to 
open a school for the instruction of children of the 
officers and soldiers stationed there. Subsequent- 
ly he fixed upon Detroit as his permanent home 
and made school teaching the principal business 
of his life. 

In the fall and winter of 1835-6 Mr. Bacon visit- 
ed Vermont for the purpose of procuring a wife 
and installing her in his contemplated home in 
Detroit. It was at this time that Mr. Bacon had 
several interviews with young Azro's father, and 
the result was that consent was obtained to allow 
the son to accompany him and his new wife to the 
West, with the intention of placing him in a 
school, if not at Mackanac then in Detroit. The 
arrangement was that young Hildreth should pro- 
ceed to Albany, N. Y., where he had a friend 
whom he wished to visit, and that Mr. Bacon with 
his bride would join him there and take him along 
with them. But this arrangement was never ful- 
filled. 

For some reason Mr. Bacon was delayed in Ver- 
mont three or four weeks, and Mr. Hildreth, fail- 



48 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing to see him in Albany, as expected, took a 
steamboat there for New York City. He arrived 
in the great city during the sessions of the May 
Anniversaries of the various churches of the coun- 
try and soon found temporary employment in the 
publishing house of Thomas George, Jr., at No. 
4 Spruce street. One of Mr. George's principal 
publications was called the ''Christian Library," 
consisting mostly of a reprint of standard relig- 
ious works. 

Not many days elapsed before Mr. Hildreth was 
taken sick, and the people at his boarding place, 
fearing that he had the small pox, were about to 
have him removed to the hospital. It was at this 
critical moment that Rev. J. M. Scribner, hereto- 
fore mentioned, rendered him a valuable service. 
Mr. Scribner had previously sold publications for 
Mr. George to aid in defraying his college expens- 
es at Schenectady. He happened to be in the city, 
in attendance upon the anniversary sessions of his 
church, and naturally called upon his friend Mr. 
George. The sickness of Mr. Hildreth was men- 
tioned and both gentlemen at once proceeded to 
the sick man's bedside. Mr. Scribner had ex- 
plained to Mr. George the merits of the patient, 
a physician was called who pronounced the dis- 
ease measles and not small pox; and the landlady, 
a kind-hearted Scotch woman, not only permitted 
the sick man to remain, but kindly nursed him. 
and in less than two weeks had him restored to 
health. While lying upon his sick bed many and 
many anxious thoughts passed through the mind 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 49 

of young Hildreth, and many plans were contem- 
plated for his future action. How he longed for 
the care of his mother, and how gladly would he 
exchange his city prospects for the labors upon 
his father's farm! 

After recovery from sickness Mr. Hildreth went 
out to Paterson, New Jersey, where he engaged 
in teaching a select school. In the meantime Mr. 
George, the New York publisher, had been de- 
frauded by one of his clerks, and was in need of a 
trusty young man. The recommendation given 
him of Mr. Hildreth by Mr. Scribner, led him to 
believe he was the man he needed. Mr. George 
made a second trip to Paterson before finding him. 
One day he appeared at the school-house door and 
made known to Mr. Hildreth his business, urging 
him to relinquish the school and engage in his 
employ without delay, and offering him a liberal 
salary. The result was that Mr. H. turned over 
the school to its former teacher, accepted the offer 
of Mr. George, and in a day or two was back in 
New York. On arriving there, the office boy told 
Mr. Hildreth that he had heard Mr. George say 
he was determined to have Mr. H. if he could find 
him, for he knew that he was honest. 



50 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XV. 



A SEASON IN NEW YORK. 



THE consent of Mr. Hildreth's parents that he 
should be permitted to go out into the world 
and seek his fortune was obtained reluctantly. 
Knowing but little of the intrigues and snares of 
the world, his departure from the parental roof 
was not without solicitude and anxiety both on the 
part of his parents and himself. His preservation 
from vice and crime should be attributed in some 
degree to the excellent moral and religious train- 
ing he had received. His father exacted a prom- 
ise that, during his absence, he would be constant 
in attendance at church, and this promise was 
sacredly fulfilled. 

As he bade farewell to parents, brothers, sisters, 
friends; to the home of his childhood and the 
scenes of early youth, where so much of family 
bliss had been enjoyed; the thoughts that welled 
up in his mind can be better imagined than de- 
scribed. 

Mr. Hildreth remained in the employment of 
Mr. George during the season of 1836 and enjoyed 
his fullest confidence. He was often entrusted 
with large sums of money, and was frequently sent 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 51 

out to make collections not only in the city, but to 
the various cities up and down North river, out in 
New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 
the fall he was sent to Vermont for the purpose of 
establishing agencies for the sale of his employ- 
er's publications, with the privilege of visiting his 
home and enjoying a winter vacation, fully expect- 
ing to return to New York in the spring. But 
when spring came there came with it the great 
financial crash of 1837, and Thomas George, Jr., 
his employer, went down in the general ruin! All 
the banks in the United States suspended pay- 
ment — thousands and thousands of business men 
failed, and it was said that forty thousand clerks 
in New York City were thrown out of employment. 
Mr. Hildreth arrived at the paternal home in 
Vermont on Thanksgiving day, just as the family 
were about to partake of their roast turkey and 
all the other luxuries of a New England Thanks- 
giving dinner. The joy of the family at this 
happy meeting could hardly be excelled. Father, 
mother, brothers and sisters, were all assembled 
once more around the festive board, and indeed 
this was an occasion of thankfulness. 



52 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XVI. 

LEARNS THE PRINTER'S ART. 

IN the spring of 1837, finding all kinds of busi- 
ness in an embarrassed condition, Azro once 
more gave attention to the work upon his father's 
farm. Absence from home the previous year had 
not been without fruitful lessons of instruction, 
and following the plow, swinging the scythe, and 
gathering in the harvests afforded him more satis- 
faction and pleasure than ever before. 

However, books and literary pursuits were more 
to his taste than the quietude of a farmer's life. 
An opening for him was now presented in the 
printing and newspaper establishment of William 
Hewes, in his native town, which was readily ac- 
cepted, where he could become master of the ' 'art 
preservative of all arts," and also become familiar 
with the work of a journalist. After the expira- 
tion of his engagement with Mr. Hewes young 
Hildreth again proceeded to the city of New York 
and found employment on the American Family 
Magazine published by J. S. Redfield at No. 13 
Chamber street, in connection with Bruce's type 
and stereotype foundry. He was subsequently 
employed on the "Christian Intelligencer," the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 53 

organ of the Dutch Reformed Church. The office 
was in Ann street, and in the same building, next 
story above, was the printing office of Horace 
Greeley, who was then publishing a literary paper 
called "The New Yorker." In those years busi- 
ness was dull and times were hard. The "New 
Yorker" was having a hard struggle to live. On 
one Saturday Mr. Greeley, failing to obtain money 
enough to pay off his help, sat down and cried 
over his hard luck. 



54 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ENTERING UPON A NEW LIFE. 

IN the city of Lowell, Mass.. in 1839, Mr. Hil- 
dreth opened a printing establishment for him- 
self and began the publication of a weekly paper 
entitled the "Literary Souvenir." This publica- 
tion met with a very favorable reception, and was 
liberally patronized by the operatives in the mills 
and by persons of literary tastes throughout New 
England. 

During the spring of 1839 he became acquainted 
with a young lady of Newburyport, Mass., of un- 
usual beauty and aimiability of temper. About 
this time Mr. James F. Stuart of Newburyport, a 
mutual friend of Mr. Hildreth and his new lady 
acquaintance, wrote and published the following 
stanza : 

"A star there was a-shining, 

For him it did appear, 
To lighten up his path 
And his lonely spirit cheer. 

"Yes, he did find a maiden 

Whose heart did prove sincere, 
And she will love her husband — 
Naught else on earth so dear. 

"A home within her bosom, 

Where love alone will reign, 
Shall be for him the trusted, 
And ever will remain." 



A2RO B. F. HILDRETH. 55 

The acquaintance with this young lady ripened 
into love, and the ''Literary Souvenir" of Oct. 26, 
1839, contained the following announcement: 

Married, in Newburyport, Oct. 24, 1839, by Rev. 
Mr. Lambert, Mr. Azro B. F. Hildreth, of Lowell, 
to Miss Hannah D. L. Rier, daughter of the late 
Capt. Dennis Rier of the former place. 

The happy couple, whose wedding was thus 
announced, began their married life with bright 
hopes and high anticipations of many years of 
prosperity. Their wedded life was indeed very 
happy, but it was of short duration. The young 
wife, during the succeeding winter, took a severe 
cold, which settled upon her lungs, and from it 
she never recovered. Consumption, that dire dis- 
ease of New England, ensued, and every curative 
effort proved unavailing. The "Literary Souve- 
nir" of June 5th, 1841, contained the following 
obituary notice: 

"Died, in Newburyport, May 20, 1841, of con- 
sumption, Mrs. H. D. L. Hildreth, wife of A. B. F. 
Hildreth, of Lowell, Mass., aged 21 years, 6 
months and 11 days. « 

"Thus has passed away the companion of my 
bosom. About eighteen months ago we com- 
menced life's pilgrimage together, full of the 
buoyancy and spirit of youth, elated with the 
brightest anticipations of the future, and for a 
while prosperity and happiness hovered around 
us. But this season of bliss was of short duration. 
Consumption, a disease that annually sweeps off 
its thousands and tens of thousands of New Eng- 
land's fair daughters, laid its cruel hand upon my 
dear wife, and human skill was unable to wrest 
her from its grasp. She had from early life known 



56 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

affliction and sorrow. For nearly twelve months 
did she linger out a life of suffering with wonder- 
ful fortitude and patience. She had visited Ver- 
mont, in the vain hope of regaining her health 
where she spent the winter, and had just made the 
journey thence to Newburyport that she might 
there die and be buried among her kindred; while 
I, her husband, had returned to my business in 
Lowell, when, sooner than was expected, the news 
came that my dear wife was no more ! Alas, how 
suddenly have all my fond hopes been blasted; 
how like a dream have they passed away! She 
who but as yesterday was whispering encourage- 
ment and love in the ears of him who pens these 
lines, herself full of cheerfulness and gayety, has 
suddenly been cut off in the morning of life — is 
dead and gone forever! Nay, not dead. She lives 
— lives in a brighter and better world beyond the 
skies, where 

"Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, 
Are felt and feared no more." 

Conscious to the last, just before her end, she 
raised her hands, and seeing the evidence of ap- 
proaching dissolution, she cast her eyes upon the 
friends around her, and with a smile of Christian 
triumph and joy that rested upon her countenance 
even after her happy spirit had winged its way to 
the regions of immortal bliss, without a struggle 
or a grdan, she yielded her soul unto Him who 
gave it. We should not wish her back. It mat- 
ters but little when we die, but how well. " h. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 57 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

.THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN. 

THE death, of his beautiful and amiable young 
wife weighed heavily upon the mind of Mr. 
Hildreth. But time can heal the wounded heart. 
He applied himself closely to the business of his 
printing house, and to the editing and publishing 
of his newspapers. In politics he was an ardent 
Whig, and in the Presidential campaign of 1840 he 
took much interest. Of course he voted for Gen- 
eral William Henry Harrison, the Presidential 
candidate that year. 

On the 4th of July, 1840, Mr. Hildreth, in com- 
pany with many others, rode in a log cabin from 
Lowell to Concord. The cabin was of large di- 
mensions and was drawn by twelve large and pow- 
erful horses. It had a band of music on the top 
and flag staff from which floated the stars and 
stripes. The sides of the cabin were decorated 
with cider barrels, coon skins, bear traps, &c. On 
that day the "glorious fourth" was celebrated by 
40,000 people gathered around the monument on 
the old Concord battle ground, and the exercises 
were very enthusiastic. The log cabin, with its 
Whig occupants, left Lowell at about daylight and 



58 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

was followed by a mob of Democrats, or Van Bu- 
ren men, for about three miles, who filled the air 
with curses and heaped all manner of imprecations 
upon the heads of the Whigs. The cabin and 
horses were guarded by a file of policeman on each 
side, so that no harm was done, although at some 
distance outside the city a powder mine had been 
laid to blow up the cabin with its occupants, and a 
villain was about to apply a match to it when he 
was seized by a policeman and hurried off to the 
lockup. About this time the mob found it conven- 
ient to disperse. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 59 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHANGES IN BUSINESS AND A NEW WIFE. 

^^ R. Hildreth's publications in Lowell were 
i V the "Morning News," (daily,) the "Literary 
Souvenir," (weekly,) and "Ladies' Literary Re- 
pository." (semi-monthly.) The daily paper was 
not sufficiently supported, and after a while its 
> publication was discontinued. But the "Souve- 
nir" and "Repository" were quite popular, and 
had a good circulation both in Lowell and through- 
out New England. 

After the death of his wife discouragements 
came and Mr. Hildreth sold out his subscription 
lists and business in Lowell to a Methodist clergy- 
man and an Abolitionist lecturer. These men paid 
but little at the time of purchase and gave their 
notes for the balance. But the notes were never 
paid. This was in the winter of 1842. 

After selling out in Lowell Mr. Hildreth re- 
moved to Boston, where he connected himself for 
a time with the celebrated printing house of Mr. 
S. N. Dickinson, on Washington street, a man 
who did more to improve the art of printing than 
any other one in America had done previous to 
that time. In the mean time Mr. Hildreth had 



60 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

married again, this time to a young lady named 
Olive Freeman Fuller, of Paris, Oxford county, 
Maine. This young woman possessed great sweet- 
ness of temper and amiability of character, and 
once more happiness seemed in store for the newly 
married couple. 

In the fall of 1842 Mr. Asa Low of Bradford, 
Orange county, Vermont, then visiting Boston, 
sought and found Mr. Hildreth, and induced him 
to remove to Bradford and there establish the 
printing and publishing business. This Mr. Low 
was one of the most energetic and active business 
men in Vermont. He was a large wool- buyer, and 
had for many years bought wool raised by Mr. 
Hildreth's father, Of course he knew the family 
well, and especially the son who had attended 
school several terms in the Bradford Academy. 

On one occasion, after Mr. Hildreth had com- 
menced the newspaper business in Lowell, he 
happened to be in Bradford, and, passing the 
office of Mr. Low, some one in there remarked, 
"there goes Mr. Hildreth." "Call him in," said 
Mr. Low. After inquiry about his Lowell busi- 
ness, Mr. Low took two dollars from the money 
drawer and handed it to him, saying. "I want to 
help you a little — send your paper to my two 
daughters, Helen and Caroline Low." 

Mr. Low had a high opinion of Mr. Hildreth's 
fidelity and capabilities. He was engaged in the 
manufacture of paper quite extensively, also blank 
books and book-binding generally, and this was in 
addition to his large mercantile establishment and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 61 

various other branches of business. He wished to 
start the work of printing and publishing school 
books; and being a strong Whig and protective 
tariff man, he desired the publication of a Henry 
Clay, Whig, Tariff, Protection Newspaper. This 
all comported with the views of Mr. Hildreth and 
he readily agreed to the arrangement. For ten 
years he carried on the business of printing and 
publishing in Bradford. He not only printed 
school books of different kinds, but published also 
a monthly magazine called the "Green Mountain 
Gem," and two different weekly newspapers, one 
called the "American Protector," a high tariff or 
protectionist paper, which advocated the election 
of Henry Clay for President, and next, the ' 'Ver- 
mont Family Gazette." a literary and family paper 
which was substituted for the "Protector" after 
the defeat of Henry Clay in 1844. 

The labors, both mental and physical, per- 
formed by Mr. Hildreth during these ten years in 
Bradford were the most exacting and arduous of 
his whole life. Times were hard and money 
scarce. The "Protector" newspaper did not pay 
expenses, although the doctrine of protection to 
American industry, as put forth by Henry Clay 
and advocated by this journal, was popular in 
Vermont. 

With the defeat of Clay in his aspirations for the 
Presidency, subsided the hopes and energies of 
the protection or Whig party in Vermont, as well 
as throughout the Union. It was therefore found 
necessary to discontinue the publication of the 



62 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

"Protector,'' and the "Family Gazette" took' its 
place. This latter journal soon became popular 
throughout Vermont, had a good circulation, and. 
in connection with the "Green Mountain Gem,' 1 
gave its enterprising publisher a comfortable sup- 
port. The publication of these two works was 
continued till 1852, when a favorable opportunity 
for selling out the business presented itself and 
Mr. Hildreth availed himself of it. The purchaser 
was Elizur Southworth, a returned Californian. 
who paid for his purchase in gold. He removed 
the establishment to White River Junction. Vt.. 
and in a short time afterwards the entire property 
was consumed by fire. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 63 



CHAPTER XX. 

A SECOND BEREAVEMENT. 

N the 26th of January, 1844. just as Mr. Hil- 
dreth was becoming well established in busi- 
ness, in his new location at Bradford, and every- 
thing seemed encouraging, a second bereavement 
came upon him most suddenly and unexpectedly. 
His dear wife, the second partner of his joys and 
sorrows, and companion of his bosom, was sud- 
denly prostrated with an epidemic disease, termed 
erysipelas, which caused her death three days 
afterwards. This was a terribly painful disease, 
yet the death -stricken sufferer bore her distress 
with the utmost patience and fortitude, and died 
full of faith and hope in $ie redeeming grace of 
her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Too much 
cannot be said in praise of the many excellencies 
of this young wife who, like a morning flower, so 
soon faded and fell. 

The following obituary notice is taken from the 
"Green Mountain Gem" for February, 1844: 

"Died, in Bradford, Vt.. January 26th, 1844, of 
erysipelas, Olive F., wife of A. B. F. Hildreth. 
aged 21years, 2 months and 10 days. 

' 'Thus, a second time, has a tender and dearly 
beloved bosom companion been snatched from 



64 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

my fond embrace, and my heart's best affections 
made desolate and drear. Why should it be thus? 
Were those sainted spirits too pure, too holy, too 
heavenly, to dwell longer in a vain and sinful 
world, that their Father in Heaven should call 
them thus early to be with Him in Paradise? Be 
it so. Soon, and I too will depart hence to meet 
them in that better world beyond the skies, where 
partings can never come. There shall tears be 
wiped from off all faces, and songs of joy ascend 
up forever and ever. 

"Alas, how transitory are the joys of earth! Its 
scenes — how fleeting, how changeable ! This world 
can afford but few charms for one who has so 
deeply drank of the bitter cup of affliction. Hap- 
piness; as sweet, as pure, as perfect as earth can 
afford; and sorrow, deep, painful and heart-rend- 
ing; have alternately been my portion. No more 
does the cheerful countenance of a fond, loving 
and ardently devoted companion lighten up with a 
smile of pleasure at my approach. In vain do I 
look for the beloved face whose features I was 
wont to gaze upon with delight; for the bosom I 
was wont to lean upon when the toils of the day 
had exhausted my strength and vigor; the friendly 
counsel I was wont to receive when the perplex- 
ities of life had distracted my judgment; the words 
of solace my lacerated heart was wont to drink in 
with grateful emotion; when the bitter troubles of 
the world had come over my spirits like a blight- 
ing wind, crushing my fondest hopes; ay, I look in 
vain for the affectionate friend, the judicious coun- 
sellor, the jealous guardain of my good name, the 
beloved bosom companion, the tender wife! 

' 'Where is that playful vivacity that could cheat 
even sorrow of its bitterness? — that speaking eye 
that was wont to speak with ecstatic delight? — 
those ruby lips which seemed as if their glowing 
red had been lit up 'with coals of fire from Heav- 
en's own altar? — that confiding heart, full to over- 
flowing of joy and innocence, the abode of purity 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 65 

and love? — that zephyr voice whose playfulness 
was the first to greet my steps, as I returned 
home, and which even now, methinks, is ringing 
in my ear. calling up from the depths of my in- 
most soul responsive sighs and regrets that so 
lovely a flower should have been blighted so early ! 
Where, oh! where are they? 

"In vain, my beloved companion, does memory 
attempt to portray the winning graces of thy 
sportive spirit; the laughing glee which ever dim- 
pled those cheeks of thine, where health seemed 
to have fixed her chosen seat; that artless inno- 
cency of manner which won its way to the most 
indifferent heart. These, and more than these; 
that exuberance of affection and love, which from 
its very fullnes was ever bursting forth and 
attaching to itself the deep sympathy of all within 
the sphere of its influences — all were thine. But 
where are they now? Death has fixed his seal on 
them forever! Can it be? No, thou are not dead! 
the countenance indeed is changed and removed 
from sight; but the living graces of mind and 
heart; all that was truly worthy our attachment; 
will live forever. Thy happy spirit, freed from 
its prison house of clay, lives — lives in the man- 
sions of the blest, far beyond this vale of tears. 
Holy and happy being! It would be cruel to call 
thee back, but may thy angelic spirit watch with 
guardian care over thy bereft companion here on 
earth, and when he shall have served the proba- 
tion here allotted him, receive him to thy arms in 
bliss. 

••The reader may pall it weakness thus to give 
vent to my feelings, but for this once I beg indul- 
gence. From blooming health has a most dearly 
beloved companion been cut down almost in a day, 
and weighty indeed is the calamity I feel. But 
amid all my affliction hope and faith in the infinite 
goodness of the Redeemer have sustained me. 
Great consolation does it afford me that my dear 
departed companion was, till her last moments, 



66 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

blessed with reason, and that she died rejoicing in 
the hope of a free and full salvation, and a blessed 
immortality beyond the grave. Her dying words 
were, "I am happy in God." For a text for her 
funeral sermon she chose those happy words of 
the Savior: "My grace is sufficient for thee." 

' 'Reader, if thou art a husband, blest with a ten- 
der and affectionate wife, learn to appreciate her 
society and her worth. Be kind, generous, affec- 
tionate and happy. In an evil hour she may be 
snatched from your embrace and her frail form lie 
cold in death! Learn wisdom — learn happiness — 
and strive at all times to be in readiness to meet 
the summons of the Most High." A. B. f. h. 

Besides this overwhelming domestic affliction, 
during Mr. Hildreth's residence in Bradford, he 
was himself repeatedly thrown upon a bed of sick- 
ness, where he suffered either from fever, dysen- 
tery or other disease, induced by arduous and in- 
cessant labors in his business as editor and print- 
er. Still he toiled on, full of hope, industry and 
energy. His friend and patron, Asa Low, gave 
him a large amount of printing to do, such as 
school books, almanacs, blanks, &c. For several 
years he printed the "Youth's Almanac," the cal- 
culations for which were made by that youthful 
prodigy, Truman H. Safford, who, at the age of 
nine years, prepared for his almanac the calendar 
pages, and calculated the eclipses of the sun and 
moon. This little boy was afterwards educated at 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and be- 
came in time Professor of Astronomy at the Doug- 
las Observatory in Chicago, and later at Oberlin 
College in Ohio. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 67 



CHAPTER XXI. 



POLITICAL ADDRESS. 



k URING the Presidential campaign of 1844, at 
a Whig Mass Convention, held in Orange 
county, Vt., by invitation, Mr. Hildreth delivered 
the following address: 

Respected Fellow Citizens: — 

I appear before you, on this occasion, as an 
humble advocate of American principles. It will 
not be expected by you that I shall reveal any new 
and startling facts in the history of our country, 
or the policy of our government. Nor will these 
veteran freemen, whom I see before me, expect 
that one of my few years will instruct them in the 
politics of the nation, or direct them in the path of 
their duty. 

But, gentlemen, if I shall succeed in entertain- 
ing you a few moments, while I express my opin- 
ions of men and measures, — and suggest the 
course we ought to pursue, as enlightened freemen, 
— and they shall meet with your approbation — I 
shall have arrived at the height of my ambition. 

Politics have been beautifully defined to be the 
art of making a people happy, — but you, gentle- 
men, will bear me witness, that the arts of men 
have perverted them so as to make people misera- 
ble. In our country there are now, and there ever 
have been, since the formation of our government, 
two prominent political parties. 

There were whigs and tories in the days of the 



68 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

revolution — and there are whigs and tories in 
these latter days. Though the opponents of the 
whigs now, style themselves democrats — with how 
much truth I leave for you to decide. 

There were traitors in the days of the revolution 
and there are traitors now-a-days. The former 
would have betrayed us into the hands of foreign 
foes — the latter would betray us into the hands of 
our political enemies. 

The whig party claim to have principles and 
measures characterizing them, which must operate 
in their full force, or the country cannot enjoy 
prosperity. I need not tell you, gentlemen, that 
these principles and measures are condemned and 
despised by our opponents — but, gentlemen, they 
have passed the unerring test of time and exper- 
ience, and the verdict is — they are right! The 
voice of past events, and the louder voice of the 
present, both proclaim them right! 

With the 3d of March, 1829, ceased the adminis- 
tration of a President unsurpassed for the splen- 
dor of his abilities, — a statesman, taught in the 
school of the revolution, and enriched with all the 
wisdom to be derived from long experience and 
constant association with the most eminent men of 
the age — a man, honest, able, fearless, and thor- 
oughly patriotic. This President, who was sus- 
tained by the people of Vermont with very great 
unanimity — this statesman — this man, in all the 
noblest attributes of man, was John Quincy Adams. 
The principles of his administration required an 
honest and economical government, using its con- 
stitutional powers for legitimate ends — to preserve 
the Union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quility, provide for the common defence, promote 
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
Liberty to ourselves and our posterity. 

The policy of Mr. Adams 1 administration em- 
braced among its main features, a Protective Tar- 
iff and a National Bank. Without these every 
branch of our domestic industry must either be 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 69 

crushed by foreign competition or languish for the 
want of a sound and stable currency. 

There was another feature aiming to develop and 
improve the resources of the nation. I allude to 
the internal improvement system. But the energies 
of the government will not now need to be taxed 
for this purpose, if the states shall have their 
rights accorded to them, by an annual distribution 
of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands. 

John Quincy Adams left the nation prosperous 
and happy; in the enjoyment of a full measure of 
protection — with a currency unrivalled in any 
nation of the earth; and with every branch of labor 
and honest enterprise — the producer of the raw 
material, the artisan, the factor, and shipper — all 
progressing steadily and successfully. 

The benign influences of the republican policy 
had been universally felt, and so universally were 
they acknowledged, that in the political struggles 
of '24 and '28. both parties, in the main, professed 
their entire adherence to it. Another dynasty 
succeeded. It departed from the republican pol- 
icy; — ivith what results, let the history of twelve years 
of political misrule, and unmitigated misery, attest. 

Assault after assault was made upon the tariff 
of 1828. Manfully, and for a time successfully, 
were these assaults repelled by the whigs of that 
day. aided, in part, by the members of the domi- 
nant party from the free states. But at last it 
fell! and the doctrine of Protection to American 
Industry — which came into existence coeval with 
the Constitution — and in the estimation of our pa- 
triotic fathers, was synonymous with American 
Independence — was abandoned! 

At the same time, an equally persevering and 
ruthless war was made upon the Bank of the 
United States; an institution which afforded a cur- 
rency of uniform value the world over. It had 
hitherto served both government and people with 
unexampled faithfulness and success. But be- 
cause it would not lend its influence to aid the 



70 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

mercenary and corrupt schemes of Andrew Jack- 
son, the "monster" must be crushed ! And together 
with the Tariff of 1828, affording Protection to 
American Industry, fell the United States Bank! 

The consequences of this radical change in the 
policy of the government, were as suddenly felt 
as they were in themselves extraordinary. In the 
midst of ample means of national and individual 
happiness, we had unexpectedly fallen into severe 
distress. Our course had been suddenly arrested. 
The general pulse of life stood still! The activ- 
ity and enterprise of the country felt a pause. A 
vastly extended and beneficent commerce was 
checked! Manufactures suspended with incalcu- 
lable injury to those concerned in them; and the 
labors of agriculture were threatened with the loss 
of their usual reward. The people remonstrated, 
and untried experiments were resorted to by the 
government. The currency of the country was 
stimulated to an unexampled extent, — yea. to its 
utmost limit! 

So inflated had the currency of the country be- 
come, through the agency of the reigning dynasty, 
that there could be no adequate check to control 
it. It rolled on, and on. and on. sweeping every- 
thing before it, until destroyed by the violence of 
its own action. 

A change in the course of the government was 
inevitable; but the change ordained by the party 
in power, was not a remedy for the distresses of 
the people. They again shot wildly to another 
extreme, and for the most prodigal issues of an 
unrestricted and unregulated paper currency, they 
proposed, through the Sub -Treasury, to sever the 
government from the people! To restrict the busi- 
ness of the country, so far as the federal govern- 
ment was to have any control over it, to the mea- 
gre and uncertain supply of gold and silver! 

A circulating medium of more than five hundred 
million dollars, they would reduce to less than 
eighty millions! Not more than twice the amount 
of the annual expenditures of the government! 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 71 

This measure was resisted by the people. 
Again and again was it defeated by their repre- 
sentatives, and that, too, when a majority of them 
were the personal and political friends of the men 
in power. But power triumphed over the people, 
and the deed at last was done. It brought no 
relief to individual suffering. Even the govern- 
ment was forced to repudiate the very principles 
which it urged upon the people. It was obliged 
to eke out a miserable existence by the issue of 
bills of credit ! 

These disasters were justly regarded as the 
legitimate fruits of departing from the old repub- 
lican principles and policy. Such was the deliber- 
ate verdict of the beople rendered in the Presiden- 
tial election of 1840! 

On the 4th of March, 1841, when the whigs took 
posession of the government, they found the na- 
tional estate covered with the wrecks of twelve 
years of misrule, and its administrators were bur- 
dened with a debt of twenty-four millions of dollars! 

"There is a time when forbearance ceases to be 
a virtue," is an old adage, and in no instance has 
the remark been more signally confirmed than 
during the Presidential campaign of 1840. The 
people rose en masse from one end of the Union to 
the other. They elected a man to fill the Chair of 
State, in whom they knew they could confide. In 
Gen. Harrison, the people recognized a worthy, a 
capable, and an honest man. 

But, alas ! in one brief month from his inaugura- 
tion, by an inscrutable act of Providence, the ven- 
erated Harrison was gathered to his fathers, and 
now, in the Executive Chair sits — a traitor ! 

The taunts of our opponents that the whigs have 
failed to carry out the principles upon which they 
elected Gen. Harrison to the Presidency, is not 
only false but paltry. Paltry, because those who 
make them know, as well as we know ourselves, 
that the whig party was in power but a single 
month, and that, at the end of that time, a traitor 
to all their principles came into office, and com- 



72 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

menced at once the game which has not only 
thwarted all the plans proposed by the whigs for 
relieving' the country from the evils brought upon 
it by the administrations just overthrown, but he 
actually threw himself into the arms of the enemy, 
and rendered it impossible to fulfill the promises 
we are now charged with having violated. This 
truth is so palpable and so fresh in the minds of 
the people, that it were really supererogation to 
produce formal proofs of it. 

The whigs believed the establishment of a Na- 
tional Bank to be essential to the financial welfare 
of the country, and they proceeded at once to the 
establishment of such an institution, and did es- 
tablish it. so far as both branches of the National 
Legislature had the power to do it. But John 
Tyler's conscience, which from the beginning ap- 
pears to have been made of locofoco material, 
interposed its veto, and the great remedial meas- 
ure was taken from our hands! 

Our party promised other and cardinal meliora- 
tions of the misgovernment that had been blighting 
the prosperity of the country for twelve years; 
but they, too, fell under the Executive ban! La- 
bor as we might for the benefit of the people. 
John Tyler was ready at every point to thwart us 
and render our efforts nugatory. In short, it be- 
came impossible for the people's representatives 
to do anything — out of the question to legislate to 
any advantage — so long as that deadly incubus 
hung upon the body politic; for it was very soon 
found that it was even useless to shape an act so 
as to meet the wishes of the acting President at 
any given point of time, for neither he himself, 
nor members of Congress, knew what his mind 
was from one day to another! 

A bill might be drawn to-day in strict conformity 
to his expressed will, and to-morrow he would 
threaten to veto it! 

One law actually passed both Houses which had 
previously received his express sanction — nay. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 73 

was partially drawn up in his own hand writing, 
and yet when it was sent to him for signature, the 
creatures that were around him had no difficulty 
in persuading him to reject ! 

The opposition party was of course ready to take 
advantage of this treacherous imbecility on the 
part of Mr. Tyler, and to give a sort of seeming 
sanction to his course. It was convenient treason 
to them, however deeply they despised the traitor, 
and they used it. 

The whigs, though they had a large majority in 
Congress, had less than two-thirds, and of course 
without the signature of the man acting as Presi- 
dent, no bill could become a law. 

This was the state of things as soon as Gen. 
Harrison died; and the locofocos are as well aware 
of it as we are ourselves; still they have the cool 
impudence to taunt the whig party with a non-ful- 
fillment of their promises to the people, who, we 
can tell them, see these circumstances in their true 
light, and will so tell the demagogues as soon as 
the real issue can be made up and decided at the 
ballot-boxes. 

It is quite true that the paralysis which such 
mountains of treachery as the man whom they had 
made their Vice President, and fortuitous circum- 
stance had permitted to become Chief Magistrate, 
had exhibited, has prevented them from coming to 
the polls on minor questions of public concern- 
ment, but let the vital question be placed before 
them — let the whig and locofoco candidates for the 
Presidency come up for the expression of their 
choice, and the result will not be doubtful. 

We have showed that the whig Congress had 
been unable to carry out many of their leading 
measures for which they were elected, and which 
the people expected at their hands, in consequence 
of the treachery of the individual upon whom the 
Executive office had unfortunately devolved. 

But those who believe the government was in- 
stituted and should be administered for the benefit 



74 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of the governed, will find in the measure of re- 
trenchment adopted by the last Congress, and 
which his Accidency, John Tyler, could not de- 
feat, without, at the same time, cutting off the 
supplies that were necessary to carry on the gov- 
ernment, evidence of that convincing and practical 
nature that comes home to all, of the patriotic 
principles which controlled the actions of the whig 
majority, and of the good faith with which they 
acted. 

It is easy to prate of the public welfare and of 
regard for the interests of the people, but it is 
from their practical action that the sincerity of 
men is to be judged, and their true principles are 
ascertained. 

The locofoco party came into power under the 
pledge to introduce economy and retrenchment in 
the administration of the government — and carried 
out their pledge by raising the annual expendi- 
tures of the government from thirteen to thirty- 
seven millions of dollars per annum! 

The whig Congress, without co-operation, brought 
down the appropriations, as certified by the Clerk 
of the House, to the rate of sixteen millions a year! 
Seventeen millions less than the yearly average ex- 
penditure of Martin Van Buren! 

What amount, then, more than was necessary, 
locof ocoism cost the country in the administration 
of the government alone? In the four years of 
Van Buren, sixty-eight millions of dollars! and in 
the eight years of Jackson, more than one hundred 
and thirty-six millions; making two hundred and 
four millions of dollars, as the least sum! an 
amount equal to the indebtedness of all the states! 
And yet every locofoco, brawler and scribbler is 
charging the whig party with extravagance, and 
with a disregard for the interests of the people, 
and with having accomplished nothing for the 
good of the country! 

This useless and profligate waste of seventeen 
millions a year, of the people's money, were it 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 75 

apportioned according to the census of 1840, would 
amount to one dollar a head to every man, woman 
and child, white and black, bond and free in the 
United States! 

To this extent has locofocoism taxed the people 
for twelve consecutive years! And to this extent 
have the people been relieved of their burdens by 
a whig Congress ! 

But this, neither locofocoism nor Tylerism can 
appreciate. Their doctrine is, that government is 
to be administered for the benefit of those in pow- 
er, and that the public is a goose which it would 
be folly not to pluck! 

''To the victors belong the spoils," has long 
been the motto of locofocoism, and the greater 
their amount, the greater their incentive to obtain 
power. 

An excision of officers and economy in the pub- 
lic affairs, is at war with this their fundamental 
principle of action. By the multiplication of 
officers, and by the profuse and profligate expend- 
iture of the public money, they expect to rally the 
unprincipled and mercenary of all parties to their 
support, and however much economy may be found 
in their mouths, it is never exhibited it their prac- 
tice! 

Though embarrassed by the pressure of a reck- 
less opposition, and the treachery of the Execu- 
tive, and his followers, we have shown that in the 
profession of retrenchment, ■ the whigs were not 
faithless. 

But we have yet another instance of their integ- 
rity of principle. True to the country and their 
own pledges, they sought their country's weal in 
all the modes left to them. Having failed in es- 
tablishing a currency, they turned their attentions 
and their energies into other channels. A Pro- 
tective Tariff was deemed by them of vital import- 
ance to the country. Abiding the time necessary 
to mature such an instrument, they sought to re- 
lieve the pressing necessities of the government. 



7b LIFE AND TIMES OF 

by a temporary tariff. It was based purely on 
revenue principles; but even this fell under the 
veto power! 

Finally, through unwearied labors and amid all 
the embarrassments of conflicting interests — of the 
persevering and all but unanimous opposition of 
the locofoco party, from the North, the West, the 
Centre, and the South, as well as of a large por- 
tion of Southern whigs — a Protective Tariff was 
passed and received the approval of the President. 
An approval, however, which could be secured 
only by a sacrifice of the Distribution act. 

From this hurried survey of the course of the 
whigs since the election of 1840, two things are 
evident; first, that they honestly and faithfully 
sought to redeem their pledges, and thus to re- 
store the old republican policy — and second, that 
in all points, save one, they were prevented by the 
treachery of John Tyler! If we except the appro- 
priation bill, the Tariff forms the only material 
exception. 

In these facts is to be found the key to the caus- 
es of the present condition of the country. The 
tariff alone could not, at once, restore universal 
prosperity — alone, it never can do this. We have, 
therefore, depressed prices and unsteady markets 
still; and vast amounts of capital are lying utterly 
dormant — infinitely more than enough to infuse 
strength and ability into a sound system of nation- 
al currency. Yet there has been improvement. 
There has been a great decrease of foreign importa- 
tions; there have been largely increased exporta- 
tion of domestic manufactures and produce, giv- 
ing increased activity to agricultural and mechani- 
cal labor, — to manufactures, and to our immense 
land and foreign commerce; all resulting in two 
important things, an immense reduction of our 
foreign debt, and an immense influx of gold and 
silver. 

The wool-grower of Vermont already finds a 
quick market for his wool, and prices are on the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 77 

advance. When the market shall become cleared 
of the immense stock now on hand, prices will 
still advance, till the farmer will reap a handsome 
profit in the growth and sale of this grand staple 
commodity of Vermont. 

Such have been the effects of a tariff whose 
power for good was diminished by those imperfec- 
tions which actual experience alone can fully 
develop, and future legislation may correct; but 
vastly more diminished by the ruthless cry of 
••repeal! repeal !" with which its passage was 
instantaneously greeted by a powerful and hostile 
party. 

That there is now any amelioration in the con- 
dition of the country, is due to the tariff; that 
there is no more, is owing to the fact that all the 
other primary principles of the republicans of the 
old and of the whigs of the present day, have been 
most treacherously defeated. Our present condi- 
tion, then, is to be added to past history — all pro- 
claiming the correctness and infinite value of 
whig principles. 

Gentlemen, we are often tauntingly told that 
these are ivltig times! But we indignantly repel 
the assertion! Can we have whig times unless 
whig principles and measures are in full force? 
In our school-boy days we were taught that effects 
follow causes, and, unless the order of this law is 
changed, may we not justly infer that these times 
are the effects of the past administrations? 

Yes, gentlemen, the present evils under which 
the country is groaning, are those which were 
brought upon us by the locofoco party, and have 
been continued by a President who has thrown 
himself into the hands of the same party. 

The evils of the times — the paralyzed industry 
of the country — the depression which is felt in 
every circle is justly chargeable to locofocoism. 

The whigs in 1840, rose against their oppressors 
and prostrated those who had been clamoring to 
build themselves on the ruin of the country; and 



^8 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

they have the same motives to accomplish it now, 
and the prospect of success is greater than it was 
then. 

But they say that they have lost confidence — 
that they have been betrayed by a man of their 
own choice. So were the whigs of the Revolu- 
tion. They elevated Arnold to power, and he 
betrayed them. But did they give up the contest, 
because they had in a single instance been be- 
trayed? No! They saw in this treason a new 
cause of action, and instead of giving up all as 
lost, they made another and a more desperate 
struggle, and continued their efforts until victory 
perched upon their banners. This is the example 
which the whigs of this day should follow. . Let 
them like their patriotic fathers, rally to the 
standard of liberty, and like them they will be 
successful. 

The currency of our country is in a fluctuating 
and unsafe condition, and our opponents hold out 
no promise, save the thrice condemned Sub-Treas- 
ury: a measure dangerous from the power which 
it confers upon the Executive, and fatal in its in- 
fluences upon the productive industry of the coun- 
try. Politically it tends to consolidate all power 
in the hands of the President — to the people, it 
holds out no relief! 

Now, with whom will the farmers go? — with 
that party which desires to lower the price of their 
products? To afford them a European market for 
their staples, or a home market for them?» Or will 
they go with the free trade party, who. while Eu- 
rope closes all avenues to the sale of wheat and 
corn, &c. , will yet insist upon letting that country 
sell here, free of duty; thus create a foreign 
debt, and thus drain American specie with which 
to pay it? 

With whom will the mechanics go? With the 
party which, by the imposition of a tax. desires to 
protect such wares as they manufacture from the 
competition of the pauper labor of the old world? 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 79 

or will they go with the party which proposes to 
suffer a foreign people to flood our shores with 
manufactured articles at so low a rate as to pre- 
vent the mechanic from fair sales, and thus 
beggar him and close his shop in bankruptcy? 

With whom will the laborer go? With that 
party whose object is to secure to labor a fair 
equivalent? Or will he go with those who de- 
sire, by placing the American laborer in competi- 
tion with European paupers, bring him down 
to a few pennies a day for his wages. 

For whom will men of all classes go? For the 
party whose avowed purpose it is to raise the rev- 
enue for the support of the Federal Government 
by a tax upon British goods? Or will they go 
with that party who seek to wring the revenue in 
hard dollars by the tax-gatherer, by the levy for 
that purpose, of a DIRECT TAX upon the pockets 
of the people? 

Farmers! Mechanics! Laborers! It is for you 
to decide these questions at the polls! The whigs 
are with you. and with your interests! If you 
would contribute to your interests, sustain them 
with your suffrages! 

Whigs of 18J/.J/.! The great question to be de- 
cided at the next election is. shall Vermont show 
to the nation that she is still strong in her attach- 
ment to a Protective Tariff! All eyes are turned 
to the Switzerland of America! Here is the battle 
to be fought, between the advocates of free trade, 
and the friends of the tariff! The one system, in 
its immediate tendency, is calculated to overthrow 
those principles upon which our country has 
arisen to her present glory and renown; the other 
system, (the tariff) in its practical operation, is 
calculated to still give an increased lustre to our 
name, in the onward progress of industry through- 
out the country, and the consequent increase of 
wealth and power. 

These systems are both before the people. An- 
tagonists they necessarily are and must be in 



80 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

their nature. In the success of which is Vermont 
most interested? Rather, we might ask, in the 
utter overthrow of which would the Vermont 
farmer rejoice? With the tariff destroyed, the 
hills that are now covered with sheep would go to 
waste! The farmer would sit down and reflect on 
days past and gone in which his labor met with its 
just reward! The manufacturer would be com- 
pelled to shut up his factory. Looms and spindles 
would cease to hum! The water privileges upon 
our many streams that now course their way down 
from our mountains and hills, would go unim- 
proved. Our villages that now are kept up and 
sustained by capital invested in manufactories, 
would droop and business stand still. Destroy the 
Tariff and hundreds of millions of dollars are at 
once, to all practical purposes, thrown away. De- 
stroy the Tariff, and you will strike a death blow to 
the interests of the poor man. Destroy the Tariff, 
and you make, as the result, distinctions in socie- 
ty at once unjust and cruel! The poor are made 
more miserably poor — the rich are made immensely 
rich! Money is power. Put it into the hands of 
a few, and you furnish means to oppress the many. 

Free trade, we can but abominate ! for we see 
in it death to the interests of all claims in society, 
that ought to receive the fostering care and pro- 
tection of the government. 

Who does not despise — who can but be disgust- 
ed with the men who lead the great mass of the 
locos? men who are willing to barter away the 
rights and interests of a confiding people to pur- 
chase Southern votes, and secure Southern favor! 
We do despise this fawning sycophancy ! We hope 
Vermonters will tell such men through the ballot- 
box, on the 5th of September, that they know 
their own rights, and will maintain them. The 
ballot-box is a terror to evil-doers. It speaks so 
as not to be misunderstood! Whigs! rally! rally to 
the ballot-box! and from hill and valley let a shout 
go up from 30,000 freemen: 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 81 

Vermont goes for the Tariff! Let South Caro- 
lina hug Free Trade! The one, a land of freemen! 
The other, a land of slaves! % 

One word of Henry Clay. And who is he, and 
to whom shall we liken him? Certainly not to 
James K. Polk. The comparison would be sacri- 
legious indeed. The one is as far above the other 
as the thunder and the lightning's cloud is above 
the muddy pools of earth! 

Great efforts are being made by our opponents 
in this State to make the people believe that Mr. 
Clay abandoned the Protective policy at the time 
he brought forward the Compromise act, and it is 
pn this ground that they endeavor to make Polk 
as good a Protectionist as Clay — though Polk 
firmly declares himself ever opposed to Protec- 
tion, and Clay declares himself ever in favor of it. 

Henry Clay! There is not a hillside nor a val- 
ley — not a village nor a hamlet, nor a neighbor- 
hood, nor a fireside in all these United States 
where the light of his genius has not fallen, im- 
parting blessings, and beauty, and joy, and glad- 
ness, by the genial influence of its benign rays. 

Henry Clay! That pure patriot and statesman, 
whose name and deeds are bound to every true 
American heart by all the ties that love of country 
weave! Will America forget him? No! When 
the name of Clay is forgotten the American Union 
will have crumbled in ruins. Our nation's banner 
will wave triumphantly no longer. The name of 
Clay is identified with every measure which has 
been of benefit to the nation for the last thirty 
years. His career has been straight forward — he 
has always been found battling for the great inter- 
ests of his country, and never in any one single 
instance has he deserted or deviated from that 
patriotic and manly course. Always supporting 
measures for the permanent good of the country. 
Long, — long may be the time, ere the last depart- 
ing ray of his genius shall gild the evening cloud! 
God grant that the American people may never 



82 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

permit that true lover of his country's good to 
depart without first receiving- from the hands and 
hearts of a grateful people the highest earthly 
honor within their gift! It has been said that re- 
publics are ungrateful. Let not this grave charge 
rest upon the American people. When Ken- 
tucky's favorite son is placed in the Presidential 
chair, we can exclaim indeed that now the winter 
of our discontent is made glorious summer, and 
all the clouds which lowered o'er our Union are in 
the deep ocean buried! 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 83 



CHAPTER XXII. 

A NEW MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCE 

k N the 21st day of October, 1844, Mr. Hildreth 
was married to Miss Liveria Aurette Knight, 
daughter of Josiah Knight, of Fryeburg, Oxford 
county, Maine. This young lady had been a stu- 
dent of Mr. Hildreth's at the time he taught a 
district school in Piermont, N. H., when he was 
but sixteen years old, she being about one year 
younger than he was. This union was blessed 
with one child only, a daughter, who lived only to 
the age of six years and five months. Thence- 
forward to the end of their lives they were des- 
tined to remain childless. Their lives, however, 
were prosperous ap.d happy, to a greater extent, 
perhaps, than falls to the lot of mortals in general. 

Mrs. Hildreth was a lady of education and re- 
finement — was possessed of superior business tal- 
ents — was an excellent manager of her household 
affairs — and to her husband she was ever his best 
adviser and counsellor. 

Mrs. Hildreth's father, Josiah Knight, at the time 
of her marriage, was proprietor of the celebrated 
Oxford House, the popular stage hotel at Frye- 
burg, on the route from Portland, Me., to the 



84 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

White Mountains; and for twenty-five years was 
an honored and venerable citizen of Charles City, 
Iowa, where he died on March 16, 1882, at the ripe 
age of ninety years and eight days. His wife, the 
mother of Mrs. Hildreth, died in Charles City on 
December 25, 1858, aged seventy years. Mr. 
Knight was a son of Dr. Jonathan Knight, and 
was born in Westmoreland, N. H., March 8, 1792. 
His mother's maiden name was Betsey Dudley, 
who was born in Harvard, Mass., October 31, 1763, 
and died in Piermont, N. H., on May 8, 1866, at 
the remarkable age of one hundred and three 
years and six months. 

The mother of Mrs. Hildreth, and wife of Josiah 
Knight, was Betsey Joslin, born in Winchendon, 
Mass., January 1, 1781. She was an educated and 
most estimable lady. Her daughter, Mrs. Hil- 
dreth, was born in Surry, N. H., June 11, 1817. 

On the 23d of June, 1851, a daughter was born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth, in Bradford, VI, and 
died in Charles City, Iowa, November 30, 1857. 
She was christened Mary Liveria Aurette. In her 
birth many hopes were centered; in her death all 
these were forever blasted. She was a precocious 
child. Her mind and intellect were far in advance 
of her years. At the age of three years she had 
learned the alphabet and could read in easy les- 
sons. This advanced condition of her mind con- 
tinued till her death. In conversation upon mat- 
ters of every day occurrence she surpassed many 
persons of more mature years. One of her favor- 
ite songs was — 




Little; nxrjPi.p5.^r hildreth. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 85 

"I came from a happy land, 
Where care is unknown ; 
I parted a merry band 
To make thee mine own. 

Then, haste, haste — fly with me — 
For love's banquet waits for thee ; 

Thine, thine its sweets shall be — 
Thine, thine alone !" 

Another poem which she loved often to recite 
was the one written by John Roulstone, Jr., of 
Boston, in reference to the little lamb owned by 
Mary E. Sawyer (afterwards Mrs. Columbus Ty- 
ler) of Sterling, Mass., commencing-: 

"Mary had a little lamb, 

Its fleece was white as snow ; 
And everywhere that Mary went, 
The lamb was sure to go." 

When six years old little Mary attended a young 
ladies' select school for a few weeks, the only 
school she ever attended; and it was stated by her 
teacher that in some of the branches taught, and 
especially reading, no scholar there was her equal. 
Her views regarding death and a future existence 
were remarkably intelligent and clear. Owing to 
failing health she was compelled to leave the 
school after attending a few weeks. This was in 
the summer of 1857. Her disease was marasmus 
which she bore with wonderful patience. She 
continued to pine away until November 30, 1857, 
when, calmly and peacefully, her spirit took its 
flight to the mansions of the blest, where parting 
can never come. To her heart-broken parents, 
just before her death, she spoke cheerfully and 
encouragingly, saying: "Dear papa and mama, 
do not grieve for me. I do not fear to die, I have 



86 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ever tried to be good. I shall go to heaven and 
be happy; and if you are good yon will come to 
heaven too, and then yon will see your little Mary, 
and we shall all be happy together." What a 
divine hope; what words of comfort; what a sub- 
lime theology ! She gave directions for the dis- 
tribution of her wearing apparel, her books, her 
toys, dolls and playthings, among her little cousins 
and friends. She asked her mama: "When I die 
where shall I be buried? 1 ' Her mother answered: 
"Papa says you may be buried in the garden." 
"Oh, that will be nice,'* said she, "and then you 
and papa can come and plant flowers on my 
grave." 

Little Mary's funeral was largely attended, by 
both old and young; and especially did the little 
ones come to take a parting look at the sweet face 
of their beloved playmate and friend; for all the 
children loved her. The officiating clergyman 
was Rev. Mr. Rust of the M. E. Church, who 
preached an interesting discourse from the text: 
"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to 
come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of 
Heaven." Many a time afterward was little 
Mary's life and character referred to by parents 
of other children, when teaching them to be good. 

The following poem, with its introduction, was 
written and published by the father of this cherub 
daughter shortly after her death: 

"I SHALL REST TO-NIGHT." 

A morning flower plucked for heaven was the 
writer's little daughter of six summers, who lately 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 87 

passed from this to a better world, there to bloom 
forever in the Paradise of God. While upon her 
dying couch, and shortly before her departure, 
she besought her wearied and grief- stricken par- 
ents to take repose, saying: "I shall rest to- 
night." At near midnight. Nov. 29, 1857, she 
closed her eyes as if in a calm slumber, and in a 
few minutes was indeed "at rest." 

"I shall rest to-night." Another day, 

While my loved flowers* in breezes dance, 
You'll take me from this home away ! 
A mournful train will then advance 
Up through the long and silent street, 
To hear me to my lone retreat. 

Oh, there, — it matters not, — will rave 
The storms and blasts of wintry weather, 

Above the narrow, new-made grave, 
Where death and I lie down together ; 

Enough that I shall know it not, 
Within that lone and narrow spot ! 

For I shall sleep. As sweet a sleep, 

As ever blessed a child reposing, 
Awaits me in the grave so deep, 

Where I, my weary eyelids closing, 
At length shall lay me down to rest, 

Heedless of clods above my breast. 

Asleep ! How deep will be the "rest," 
Free from .life's turmoil, moving wildly, 

That when is passed the earth's unrest, 
It's bosom shall receive me mildly ; 

For not one dream of earth may come 
To break the slumber of that home ! 

Oh, deep repose ! Oh, slumber blest ! 

Oh, night of peace ! no storm, no sorro w, 
No heavy stirring in that "rest," 

To meet another weary morrow ! 
I shall heed neither night nor dawn, 

But still with folded arms sleep on ! 

Weep not, dear parents, more for me, 
But live as all true Christians should ; 

"I'm not afraid to die," you see ; 
"You'll come to me, if you are good ;" 

En; long we'll meet, forever blest, 
Beyond the skies in endless "rest." 

-She whs passionately fond of flowers. 



88 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



I. O. OF O. F. 



URING Mr. Hildreth's earlier years he was 
an active member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. In 1848 he was initiated into the 
mysteries of the Order in Moosehillock Lodge No. 
25, at Haverhill, N. H. At this time he was carry- 
ing on the printing and publishing business in 
Bradford, Vt.. on the opposite side of the Connec- 
ticut river. Subsequently he was one of the 
charter members of a Lodge at the latter place 
The interesting and important ceremonies of in- 
stituting this Lodge took place on Jan. 2. 1850, 
under the auspices of Albert Tuxbury, R. W. 
Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Vermont, 
assisted by several officers and brothers from 
Windsor Lodge No. 3; Vermont Lodge No. 2; and 
large delegations from Mount Cube Lodge No. 
23, Orford, N. H. ; and Moosehillock Lodge No. 
25, Haverhill, N. H. 

The first officers of the Bradford Lodge were 
Lewis R. Morris, N. G. ; Geo. L. Butler. V. G. ; 
A. B. F. Hildreth, Secretary; and Geo. W. Hurl- 
but, Treasurer. These men being installed into 
their respective offices, the R. W. Grand Secretary 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 89 

pronounced Champion Lodge, No. 17, I. O. of O. F., 
Bradford, Vt., duly instituted. 

Some of Mr. Hildreth's personal friends, in 
Boston, made him several donations for the pur- 
pose of furnishing the new Lodge Room, such as 
a carpet for the floor, a nice clock, by S. C. Gard- 
ner; and a superb and costly copy of the Holy 
Bible, by B. B. Mussey, a native of Bradford. 
"Please accept," said he in his letter, "and place 
in your Lodge Room, upon the altar, the Holy 
Volume which will accompany this line to you. 
May its precepts guide you in all your delibera- 
tions, until we shall all meet in that 'Grand 
Lodge, ' where all our emblems will be fully real- 
ized by the ushering in of their glorious reality, 
and we shall enjoy in its fullness our glorious 
motto and watchword of 'Friendship. Love and 
Truth.'" 

The Lodge Room was superbly furnished, and 
it was while Mr. Hildreth was the presiding officer 
that he accepted an invitation from the Lodge to 
deliver a public lecture on Odd Fellowship. In- 
vitation cards were sent out to the leading citi- 
zens, both ladies and gentlemen, of Bradford and 
vicinity, and a large and appreciative audience 
assembled in the Lodge Room on the occasion. 
The lecture was highly spoken of, and Mr. Hil- 
dreth afterwards received invitations to deliver 
his lecture in St. Johnsbury , Vt. , and other places. 

Mr. Hildreth was also a member of the Odd 
Fellows Encampment at Windsor, Vt. ; and when 
he removed to Iowa, in 1856, he was an officer of 

12 



90 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the Grand Lodge I. O. of O. F. of the State of 
Massachusetts. 

Below is a copy of Mr. Hildreth's lecture on 
Odd Fellowship, referred to above, as we find it 
among his papers: 

ODD FELLOWSHIP. 

Among the various expedients that political 
economists have devised for the amelioration of 
social evils, the Odd Fellows Association takes 
prominent rank. It is no new experiment, but 
has received the suffrages of all classes and all 
climes. It has stood the test of Time and become 
rife with the fruitage of mature growth. Its 
memories are fragrant of good deeds. Its insignia 
is, "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men! 1 ' 

Based upon the broad catholic principles of 
Christianity, its philanthropy contemplates not 
only man's physical, but his moral, and even in- 
tellectual good. It seeks to reclaim the erring 
and point the wanderer to the path of virtue and 
peace. 

With such beneficent aims what heart does not 
echo a welcome response to its appeals? Who 
does not desire to aid it in its mission ? 

We do not, however, purpose to lavish indis- 
criminate laudations upon Odd Fellowship. It is 
but a human institution, and therefore not perfect. 
Yet, taken as a whole, its excellencies far out- 
balance its seeming defects. 

Odd Fellowship sets up no pretension as a 
teacher of religion, nor does it offer presumptuous- 
ly a substitute, under color of morals, for the 
Christian code. While it reveres religion, it for- 
bears to inculcate other than general and abstract 
truths, which all men may concede, amid the ten 
thousand conflicts of opinion that divide the Christ- 
ian world. 

If the command ' 'to feed the hungry, to clothe 
the naked, to visit the sick, to relieve the dis- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 91 

tressed, to educate the orphan," (a command 
which every Odd Fellow is bound to obey,) be 
sublime and superhuman in its conception and au- 
thority as a precept, how far more touchingly and 
beautifully effective the lesson when illustrated in 
the daily ministrations of man to man! 

This is Odd Fellowship as it is; however other- 
wise it may be esteemed. 

This institution is of long standing, however 
new its history, or however little known may have 
been its practical operations to many now before 
me. 

The lamented poet, Montgomery, whose memo- 
ry is revered by every Christian, and lover of 
sacred song, as early as 1788, wrote a poem, em- 
bodying the motto of our Order, and couched in 
the sweetest language; of which I will give you 
the first stanza: 

"When Friendship, Love and Truth abound 
Among a band of brothers, 
The cup of joy goes gayly round- 
Each shares the bliss of others. 

Sweet roses grace the thorny way. 

Along this vale of sorrow ; 
The flowers that shed their leaves to-day 

Shall bloom again to-morrow. 

How grand in age, how fair in youth, 
Are holy friendship, love and truth !" 

From what information I can gather upon the 
subject, it appears that this order or affiliation 
was established by the Roman soldiers in their 
camps, in the year of our Lord 55, about eighteen 
hundred years ago. At that time they adopted 
the cognomen of "Fe.lloiv Citizens." This was dur- 
ing the reign of Nero, when for the first time the 
Roll was established among the soldiers, after the 
Order of the Israelites in their camps. These Fel- 
low Citizens were particularly faithful to the Em- 
peror, and so strikingly did they contrast with the 
other soldiers, in this particular, that in the year 
79, Nero's son, Titus Caesar, prefixed the name 



92 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Odd to their titles, and they were afterwards 
known as Odd Fellows, from the singularity of 
their conduct — from their knowing each other by 
night as well as by day — and their fidelity to him 
and their country. Titus Caesar not only gave 
them the name of Odd Fellows, but, as a pledge of 
friendship, and consideration, he presented them 
with a dispensation, engraved on a plate of gold, 
bearing different emblems, such as the sun, moon, 
stars, lamb, lion, dove and other emblems of vir- 
tue, morality and fidelity, such as you behold 
upon our dispensation or charter. 

We do not learn that this Order was known in 
other countries till about the fifth century, when 
it was established in the Spanish dominions. In 
the sixth century King Henry introduced it into 
Portugal and in the twelfth century it was estab- 
lished in France. It was introduced in England 
shortly after by John De Neville, attended by five 
knights from France. They formed a "royal 
grand lodge of honor" in London, which Order 
continued till the reign of George III, in the 18th 
century, when a separation took place; a part 
forming a new Union, while the remainder, it is 
said, continue to this day. The Lodges which are 
now very numerous throughout the world and call 
themselves the "Loyal Ancient Odd Fellows," 
have descended from this original body. 

The "Manchester Unity," which is of recent 
date, emanated from this source. Its first intro- 
duction in Manchester was in the year 1800 by 
individuals from the Union in London, who formed 
themselves into a Lodge and continued in connec- 
tion with the London Union for a while, but some 
difficulty led them to declare themselves Independ- 
ent, and in this way they came to be known as the 
"Independent Order of Odd Fellows." 

The order in the United States traces its origin 
directly to the Manchester Union in England. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was first 
established in the United States in 1819, and the 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 93 

founder of the first Lodge was Thomas Wildey, of 
Baltimore. Nearly at the same time a Lodge was 
instituted in Boston. This was the Massachusetts 
Lodge, No. 1, now one of the most respectable 
and influential Lodges in the United States. 

From this small beginning Odd Fellowship in 
America has progressed and nourished to an ex- 
tent and with a rapidity unknown in the annals of 
any other benevolent order, and I had almost said 
any party, sect or organization whatever. 

Is it asked what good are all our Lodges doing? 
I answer: From the official returns made to the 
Grand Lodge of the United States at its late ses- 
sion it appears that the amount of relief, paid in 
cash, for the preceding year has been more than 
half a million of dollars. 

You will doubtless be surprised if I tell you that 
the revenues and disbursements of the institution 
of Odd Fellowship exceed those of all other be- 
nevolent societies in the United States, such as the 
Tract Society, the Bible Society, the Temperance 
Societies, &c, &c, put together; and yet such is 
the fact. 

The number of Lodges in the United States is 
more than five thousand. The number of contrib- 
uting members about three hundred thousand. 
Did time permit I could give you the number of 
widowed families relieved — the number of broth- 
ers assisted, when in sickness and distress — the 
sums paid for burying the dead — the education of 
orphans, &c. 

Some persons affect to believe that Odd Fellow- 
ship is not worthy of their attention or favor — that 
it exerts no good influence, and is even running 
down and dying out from among us. Facts are 
stubborn things, and figures it is said will not lie. 
Let those who believe these statements examine 
the matter. We court investigation. The records 
show that during the past year more than forty 
thousand persons have joined the Order in the 
United States, while the total amount of expul- 



94 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

sions and suspensions do not amount to one thou- 
sand. 

The Order has spread till its name may well be 
called Legion. The contemplation of its advance 
over our land swells the heart with mingled emo- 
tions of pleasure and profit; — pleasure in view of 
the amount of human benefaction achieved by our 
united, though quiet, labors, and profit derived 
from the experience of the past, which points out 
our duty for the future. 

When we take a retrospective view of Odd Fel- 
lowship in this country — tracing it back to its 
infancy, and compare its condition then with what 
it now is — we are wrapt in astonishment! Follow- 
ing its track we are led through every State and 
Territory — every city, town and hamlet, — of this 
vast Republic! Wherever the Anglo-American 
dares to penetrate (and where does he not?) there 
do we behold the foot-print of our Order. Beyond 
the Rocky Mountains, and in the far-off isles of 
the Pacific, we behold its temples lifting their 
lofty spires towards the heavens! 

In this day of wonders we behold nothing more 
remarkable than the strides of our nation towards 
the distant Pacific. The State of California 
sprang into life by a single leap — peopled in the 
twinkle of an eye — ready equipped with all the 
paraphernalia of law and government — has been 
the surprise of everyone. But rapid as the career 
of that State has been, she was not able to outstrip 
the onward strides of Odd Fellowship. Before 
the government had supplied the proper protec- 
tion of law — before the Protestant Church had 
carried there the broad banner of the Cross — be- 
fore men recognized the security of life or proper- 
ty — Odd Fellowship had planted her standard in 
that distant country. Onward and onward is its 
march; and it will continue to progress until it 
shall have diffused itself throughout the habitable 
globe, and its softening, purifying and fraterniz- 
ing influences shall be known and felt wherever a 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 95 

community of human mortals shall be found to 
exist. 

Does any friend without the Order start back 
with fear and distrust at this picture of our rapid 
growth and progress? Is it for a moment imag- 
ined that evil to our government or people — to our 
civil, political or religious institutions — will result 
from this diffusion of the principles of Odd Fellow- 
ship? Then let me say to you, kind friend, quiet 
all your fears. 

It was not for party purposes; it was not for 
political aggrandizement; it was not to promote 
sectarian dogmas; it was not to control the gov- 
ernments of men; that our Order was established. 
We have a higher, purer, nobler calling. When 
the Whig and the Democrat, the high tariff man 
and the free-trader, the pro-slavery and anti- 
slavery man, the infidel and the Christian, are 
willing to sacrifice their principles and predilec- 
tions, then, and not till then, may you begin to 
have fears. 

Has not the world yet learned that men will 
relinquish anything sooner than their political and 
religious principles? It is only because they are 
not obliged to give up these that men of all polit- 
ical parties and all religions can unite as brothers 
under one broad-spread banner upon whose ample 
folds is inscribed in letters of living light the 
motto, ''Friendship, Love and Truth/' 

One of our fundamental laws requires that we 
permit no political, sectarian or other improper 
debate, under penalty. 

''But," says an objector, "your Order is a secret 
society, and must therefore be corrupt. If your 
objects were all so meritorious, as you represent 
them, there would be no occasion for secrecy/' 

I answer: Every well regulated family is a 
secret society. Each home circle has its secrets 
which should be sacredly kept from the world. 
The Church has its secrets, and the politicians have 
their secrets. It is to prevent imposition, fraud 



96 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

and abuse that we have our secrets. Our laws and 
regulations, our objects and our aims, are all be- 
fore the world, and by our fruits would we be 
judged. 

We are enjoined in sacred writ that, when we 
do our alms, "not to let the left hand know what 
the- right hand doeth;" and, in our devotions, "to 
pray to our Father in secret,'" that "our Father 
who seeth in secret may reward us openly.' 7 The 
practice of Odd Fellowship is based upon this sa- 
cred principle. She claims to be her own almoner; 
and instead of proclaiming to the world her boast- 
ful charities, she pours out her blessings with a 
lavish hand, and sheds the tear of sympathy, un- 
seen — except to the eye of suffering. 

That which is pompously done by other institu- 
tions, at the expense of private delicacy and feel- 
ing, she confers as a right. With us the irksome 
feeling of obligation for bounty conferred is not 
imposed upon the recipient. He merely receives 
his right. 

Although naturally constituted a social being, 
man is too isolated in his feelings, and selfish in 
his pursuits. It is the design of our institution to 
neutralize these influences, and to centralize the 
interests of mankind into a common brotherhood. 
The effect of extreme selfishness is to debase and 
brutalize the affections; while that of the opposite 
is to elevate and refine them. 

Were the principles of Odd Fellowship fully 
developed, pauperism and its long train of evils 
would be banished from the land; the golden age 
would return to bless the world, and the ills of 
life would be soothed and mitigated under the be- 
nign reign of Friendship, Love and Truth. 

We do not wish to deny that, connected with 
Odd Fellowship, there is mystery. Life is a mys- 
tery. The operations of nature are mysteries. 
Death and immortality are the greatest of myste- 
ries. What finite being pretends or expects to 
comprehend them until time shall change for 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 97 

eternity? Doubtless for a wise object the Al- 
mighty has so ordained it. If the whole excel- 
lence of Odd Fellowship consisted in strange, mys- 
terious ceremonies the argument against its utility 
might be valid. But our secrets are only the keys 
to our treasures, and we offer them to all on one 
condition only — that they be found worthy. An 
unblemished character and a spotless reputation 
are the requirements for their possession. Neither 
wealth nor exalted station gain for their possessor 
a more ready entrance within our portals than 
humble poverty accompanied by true merit. We 
know no distinction, nor rank, nor position. 

Secrets we know we have. They are necessary 
for our self-preservation. As Odd Fellowship is 
universal, so is her language universal. It is es- 
tablished that we may be able to recognize each 
other without the possibility of being deceived; 
and we are enabled to do so by this universal lan- 
guage. Publish it to the world; make it common 
to the virtuous and the vicious; and you at once 
destroy its utility; and by making it familiar and 
easily attained, you insure its destruction. It is 
to this very mystery that Odd Fellowship owes its 
perpetuity and universality. It is, perhaps, a 
weakness of human nature that men are charmed 
by mystery. Empires have risen and fallen; 
whole nations have passed away into comparative 
oblivion; yet Odd Fellowship stands, beautiful and 
vigorous. The wild winds of despotism and the 
surges of popular fury may beat against it but in 
vain, for it is founded on a rock. 

It is said that we are exclusive in our benefits, 
and this does not well comport with our professed 
benevolence. 

We do not claim to be a purely benevolent insti- 
tution, neither are our benefits confined to our own 
Order, entirely. We pay money into the common 
fund, as a kind of mutual health insurance, to be 
drawn out as our necessities may require, or as the 
calls of humanity shall dictate. We relieve the 

13 



98 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

wants and distresses of our own members, but our 
obligations to society at large are none the less. 
Every want that we relieve is so much subtracted 
from the sum of claims on community generally. 
Every case of suffering we prevent, (and these are 
more than we relieve,) is so much saved from the 
general amount of suffering, pauperism and crime. 
We support our own poor, while we pay our share 
for the support of the poor generally. This is the 
exclusiveness of Odd Fellowship. 

The indiscretions of our members are sometimes 
a reproach to us. "There is one of your broth- 
ers," said an opposer, pointing to one who was a 
partaker of intoxicating drinks — "a sample of the 
influence of Odd Fellowship." He is also one of 
your brothers, we reply. He is a man — one of 
God's children — one of the human family — and he 
shows what our common humanity does for its 
members. That brother never found intoxicating 
drinks in any of our Lodges or apartments. He 
never had the bottle pressed to his lips during any 
of our ceremonials. Where, then, did he get the 
poison? In what school was he taught to use it as 
a beverage? Your answer will determine whose 
brother has been most foully influenced to degra- 
dation and ruin — and ive could tell you the pains 
we have endured, the trials we have had, and the 
tears we have shed, for his degraded state and 
your depraved influences. 

In looking over the earth we find the world di- 
vided into hostile encampments, in philosophy, 
politics and religion. We interfere with none of 
these. One conviction fills our hearts; one pur 
pose nerves our arms. Man is suffering, and man 
is sacred. We can better his condition. We can 
elevate his character. We can inspire him with 
nobler aspirations, and we will! ~ 

It was to accomplish these objects that our Or- 
der was founded. Man, poor, feeble, benighted, 
lost, needed something more done for him. Priest- 
hoods had invented a thousand religions, with 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 99 

mystic emblems and solemn rituals; philosophy 
had thought, and learning had studied for ages. 
The arts of taste had grown to perfection. Heroes 
had won crowns of victory. Empires, republics, 
arts and religion had risen and gone to decay; but 
man was the same suffering, misguided, unhelped 
being still. Could nothing be done to illumine and 
elevate so noble a creature? Susceptible of such 
exalted sentiments — struggling, longing, thirst- 
ing, panting, dying for bread, light, hope, pro- 
gress, immortality! Must he grope on, ever on, 
along the shore of that vast ocean which rolls 
around the world, famishing for the bread of life 
— sighing for some new bark to bear him to climes 
where he had never trod, and an elysium he had 
not yet seen? 

Odd Fellowship heard the signal and sent back 
this response: ''No! generous, hoping, sighing, 
suffering, sacred brother; help and light are com- 
ing! 

Such were the wants and exigencies that brought 
up our Order. It was because the world needed 
it, and it answered the demands of the age that it 
has grown with incredible progress. 

Not only is physical suffering relieved, but Odd 
Fellowship is lifting its eye over a wider field. It 
is asking what is its business with the minds of 
men. It feels that it is a more. sacred, a more im- 
perious duty to cheapen science than to cheapen 
bread. There is a sadder spectacle than a man 
dying from hunger. It is a soul famishing for the 
bread of life. Hence, in every part of the land 
has it founded reading rooms, libraries, and now 
is founding schools even of the highest grade. It 
has always been our prescribed duty to educate 
the orphan, and the duty has been done. But it 
is now being done more effectually and under our 
direct supervision. 

Colleges and other higher seminaries of learn- 
ing are being 'established in various sections of 
the country, under the auspices of Odd Fellow- 



100 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ship. Even in the new State of Iowa attention is 
being paid to the subject. Recently the State 
granted a charter for a college. The Grand Mas- 
ter, assisted by the other officers of the Grand 
Lodge of Odd Fellows of the State, laid the cor- 
ner-stone with the usual ceremonies, at Iowa City, 
and a magnificent college edifice is now completed 
there and ready for occupation, built entirely by 
contributions from members of our Order. The 
institution is designed especially to secure free 
instruction to all poor orphan daughters of the 
Odd Fellows of Iowa. 

In the new State of Wisconsin a similar institu- 
tion is in progress of completion, designed for the 
education of these orphan children. These insti- 
tutions are upon the same broad and liberal prin- 
ciples, and enjoy the same freedom from every 
species of sectarianism that distinguish the Order 
everywhere. Throughout the length and breadth 
of the land funds are contributed by the various 
lodges for the promotion of these praiseworthy 
objects. The world sees the results but can hard- 
ly divine the causes, so silently and unostenta- 
tiously is all this being done. 

How often has it been said that Odd Fellowship 
does no good! Professing Christians, and clergy- 
men especially, have denounced our institution as 
unnecessary, and. on account of its secrecy, even 
dangerous. But the last few years have shown 
that clergymen do not regard secret societies with 
so much distrust as formerly. Still, they claim 
that the church of Christ is a benevolent society 
and therefore supercedes the necessity of any 
other. 

This might be conceded were the Christian 
church what it should be, but it is not. Far be it 
from me to say aught against the church as such. 
I would make no invidious comparisons. But I 
may be permitted to say that, too often has the 
Christian communicant, though in good standing 
in the church, and a true follower of Our Lord 



AZRO B F. HILDRETH. 101 

Jesus Christ, been permitted by his brethren to 
languish and die in the almshouse! When among 
strangers he may suffer from accident, privation 
and sickness, and no special kindness is shown 
him by his Christian brethren. He may languish 
till nature's last debt is paid, and then, if without 
money, though among professed Christians, he is 
scarcely allowed a decent burial, and is hurried 
into a pauper's grave! But, let an Odd Fellow be 
taken sick abroad, away from his home. — let him 
be in want; destitute of the means to provide for 
his comfort, or even sustain his being, he has only 
to make himself known, by our universal lan- 
guage, as a member of the fraternity, and his 
wants are at once supplied. The brothers visit 
him. minister to his necessities, provide him med- 
ical attendance, watch around his couch of sick- 
ness, and. if he dies, consign his remains respect- 
fully to the tomb. 

Nor are the soul-cheering influences of woman, 
as the female philanthropist around the bed of 
languishing and death, overlooked by our affilia- 
tion. *'Oh, woman! 

"When pain and sickness wring the brow, 
A ministering angel sure art thou." 

The degree of Rebekah, or ladies' degree, in our 
Order, is its most ornamental, its crowning de- 
gree. We are alone, lost and bewildered, without 
the society of woman. How susceptible is her 
heart of the most exquisite sensibility, and of the 
tenderest and most refined emotions of sympathy ! 
That "it is not good for man to be alone," is as 
true now as in the days of Adam. The benevolent 
and religious emotions of woman are in general 
far more pure, exalted and spiritualized, than 
those of the sterner sex. In behalf of suffering 
humanity, who can plead like woman, or do more 
to assuage grief? Let these true "sisters of char- 
ity" unite to oppose the torrent of vice, and what 
an irresistible phalanx do they present to its pro- 
gress ! 



102 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Thus is woman — our Christian sisters — and our 
sister Rebekahs — foremost in the redemption of 
our land. The trail of the serpent has left its 
mark upon all things created. Ambition looks 
forth for a field in which to play her part, and the 
hand of man is raised against his brother. Oh, 
how strongly is felt that want which was felt in 
the garden — that yearning for human sympathy 
and support which was felt when God said: "It is 
not good for man to be alone' 1 ! 

"Blest be the tie that binds 
Our hearts in virtue's love ; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 
Is like to that above." 

Within the walls of a lodge room the inquiring 
spirit finds meet companions. The seeker after 
truth enters our portals, fretted, perhaps, with 
worldly disappointments; bowed down by misfor- 
tune; oppressed by care. Here he listens to the 
words of kindness and truth. A chord is touched. 
Strange! That chord has been sounding ever 
since his birth, yet he has not heard it. But he 
hears it now, and as it thrills through his frame, 
he begins to feel ' 'how good and pleasant it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity." He discov- 
ers that friendship is something more than a 
name; that deep within the recesses of the heart 
lie emotions which only need to be warmed into 
action by contact with kindred spirits. His pas- 
sions are subdued; the gentler emotions are 
aroused; he looks upon those around him as breth- 
ren bound by the strong ties of brotherhood. 

"Let friendship keep our souls the same, 
And truth illume each brother's breast." 

How endearing is the title of Friend! What a 
charm in the very name of Friendship! How the 
mind turns at once to the' domestic circle, where, 
if anywhere, friendship is seen in its beauty and 
intensity ! 

The wife's devotion has ever been the theme of 



AZRO B F. HILDRETH. 103 

poet's song and minstrel's strain; and filial love 
has been promised a blessing in its fulfilment. 
Oh! the remembrance of a mother's love has often 
come back to the lone wanderer, like a long for- 
gotten strain, to cheer him in his loneliness and 
soothe his wearied spirit. 

This spirit is recognized throughout all animate 
creation. It is the basis of patriotism; that love 
of country which nerves the arm and fires the 
heart, to protect our native soil from the step of 
the invader; our hearthstone from the touch of the 
oppressor. It imparts hope to the exile when 
some home melody strikes the ear with all its 
loved associations. High and low, rich and poor, 
acknowledge its power. Even the vicious, whose 
hearts have been worn away by the constant drop- 
pings of evil, are still subject to its influence. 
What noble instances of heroism has it produced! 
It has supported the dying martyr in his agony, 
and cheered the prisoner in his solitude. Oh! it 
is the golden thread which runs through the web 
of human life, imparting to it its strength and 
beauty. 

We claim not for Odd Fellows that they alone 
exhibit in all its fullness, this divine principle, 
but we do assume that the lessons of wisdom, con- 
stantly presented to the eye and ear of the Odd 
Fellow, have direct and powerful tendency to in- 
duce those kind feelings, the earnest desire to 
benefit his fellow, which belong to true friendship. 
We all know and feel the influence of daily asso- 
ciations; how productive they are either of good 
or evil. Thus the habit is acquired in our Lodges 
of thinking well of our neighbor, and this is the 
first step toward seeking to do him good. We 
learn to look upon our fellow-man, not as one who 
can be used to advantage, but as one who has 
claims upon our sympathy and regard. We are 
taught to shun moroseness, jealousy and suspi- 
cion, and to cultivate courtesy, affability and frank-' 
ness. The great truth: "It is not good for man 



104 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

to be alone," has all the force now that it had in 
the beginning of our race. 

Mutual aid and dependence pervades all nature. 
Mind acts upon mind as matter acts upon matter. 
But it would seem that the passions, avarice and 
prejudices of man have seared his heart till its 
last remnant of humanity were well nigh con- 
sumed. 

And this in the boasted nineteenth century, 
when so much is claimed for progress in the arts 
and sciences, in morals and religion. There is a 
radical defect somewhere. 

Men have received their being from the same 
common parent; they must sink into the same 
mighty sepulchre; and finally stand before the bar 
of one almighty Judge; and yet they persist in 
living out their short lives separate and belliger- 
ent. They seem to live for themselves alone, and 
not for mankind. 

Association is the true condition of mankind. 
Fraternal sympathy is the greatest source of 
earthly happiness; and if men would be happy let 
them associate as members of one common broth- 
erhood. Robert Burns wrote: 

"Man's inhumanity to man 
Makes countless thousands mourn." 

The spirit of selfishness has made the world a 
play-house for vipers; a fierce battle-field for men. 
It has covered the face of this sin-cursed earth 
with suffering and anguish; with strife and blood- 
shed! Thus will it ever be till man shall learn to 
extend the right-hand of fellowship, carrying in 
that hand the heart, and recognize a kindred heart 
in the honest and humblest object of humanity. 

We rejoice that, at this time, the means are 
being used for the accomplishment of this great 
end. That there are those who are willing to 
renounce the world, c, its cares and distinctions, 
'its dissensions and its vices, 1 ' to burst the shackles 
of selfishness, party and sect, and be the friends 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 105 

and brethren of mankind. If the great end and 
aim of our being is ever accomplished, we believe 
it must be under the enduring principles and fra- 
ternal bonds of "Friendship, Love and Truth." 

These principles are as immutable as Heaven's 
own decree, and patiently will we await that peri- 
od foretold by prophets of old, when the "wolf 
shall dwell with the lamb; the leopard shall lie 
down with the kid; the calf and the young lion 
and the fatling together; and a little child shall 
lead them; and the cow and the bear shall feed; 
their young ones shall lie down together; and the 
lion shall eat straw like the ox; when none shall 
hurt nor destroy in all God's holy mountain; for 
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 

Then men shall become one grand association; 
the principles of universal brotherhood shall be 
indelibly impressed upon the tablets of every 
heart. They shall be written as with a pen of 
iron, and engraved as with the point of a diamond. 

"The dearest treasure mortal life affords 
Is free association ; that away ; 
Men are but gilded earth and painted clay." 

But this equality is a great stumbling block to 
the uninitiated. We cannot help it. To this one 
common level must we all come at last, and why 
not adopt it now? It is our aim to encourage the 
just and manly pride of the poor man. He has 
too long felt the depressing influences of wealth 
and power, and has already been crushed too low 
by their blighting tendencies. We wish him to 
feel that he too is a man; that he shall receive his 
favors and benefits as free gifts and as his rights, 
and not as the world doles out its cold and grudg- 
ing charities. When this shall be he may exclaim: 

"Hope's golden day hath pierced the cloud ; 

Doubt hangs no longer nigh ;. 
Bright aims are near— I'll onward press ; 

I may not — cannot die ! 
I'll falter not, but onward press ; 

Nor fear time's wasting tide, 
While Friendship, Love and Truth 

Shall here on earth abide." 

14 



106 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Friendship is a theme often upon the lips, but 
often, like the fabled apple, it is ashes to the 
taste. But in purity it tends to elevate and refine 
man's nature, to make him more benevolent, char- 
itable and God-like. 

Love, though a much abused term, is the bright- 
est attribute of Jehovah. We allude to that love 
which is indestructible, and whose holy flame 
burneth forever. That love which never forsakes 
us in the dark hour of misfortune, however we 
may be slandered or hated by those who make 
lies their refuge. That love which is from above, 
a bright and glorious spark from that pure flame, 
which burns upon that holy altar, in that holy 
temple not made with hands, eternal in the heav- 
ens; that deep and earnest love which is ever 
ready to hear the tale of sorrow; which seeks to 
relieve the sufferings of humanity, and is never 
backward in wiping the scalding tear from the 
weeping eyes of the widow and the orphan. 

Truth is another of the cardinal virtues; that 
truth which is eternal and unchangeable; which 
teaches plain dealing and sincerity; which is free 
from guile and hypocrisy; that truth which com- 
prehends everything good and proper, and gives 
vitality and spirit to society and to every associa- 
tion which is built upon a sure foundation. 

The great end of being, the object of existence, 
the light of natural and the glory of revealed 
religion, the heavens, the firmament, the fulfill- 
ment of prophecies, the Bible and the church, all 
proclaim one great Truth. Our design is the 
same, and our Order leads men through the gloom, 
and captivity, and outward manifestations of 
earthly things, to behold the truth in simplicity 
and apply it to a proper purpose. 

We do not profess to teach men the way to heav- 
en, neither do we pretend that the full exercise of 
the rules of conduct which Odd Fellowship en- 
joins, would be sufficient of themselves to insure 
the salvation of souls. But we do assert that no 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 107 

man can be a good Odd Fellow unless he be a good 
man, and no man can be good unless he carries 
out the principles which our Order enjoins. St. 
James says : ' 'Pure religion and undefiled before 
God and the Father is this : To visit the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world." 

We are not disposed to convert isolated passages 
of scripture to our use; but permit us to say that 
we are commanded by our laws, ' 'to visit the sick. 
to relieve the distressed, to bury the dead and 
educate the orphan." Could purer commands be 
given, next to that wherein we are instructed to 
love the Lord our God? And even this love is 
premised in an Odd Fellow, for he must entertain 
a firm belief in God; otherwise he is not permitted 
to hear our commands. 

The performance of our duties is sacred and 
pleasant. When health and vigor are with us we 
naturally feel an indifference to friends, and an 
independence of attendants; a kind of negative 
vacuity which we cannot describe. But this soon 
passes away when the proud heart beats slower or 
faster than it was wont to do. When the nervous 
system whispers to the brain that an enemy is in 
the physical camp; then this negativeness vanish- 
es and we fall helpless upon our fellows. There 
may not be a mother there to wipe away the tear 
of pain; there may not be a sister there pointing 
up to God; oh, there may not be a dear bosom 
companion there to anticipate the wants you can- 
not utter! You may be a stranger, thrown upon 
the cold inhospitable caprice of avaricious men, 
and far from those you love. Oh! then how keen- 
ly do you feel the blessedness of Friendship, Love 
and Truth! Your exhausted coffers are refilled; 
there are nightly vigils by your side, and guard- 
ian spirits hover around you. The parched tongue 
is moistened, the fevered brow is cooled, and the 
voice of consolation is breathed into your ear in 



108 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

accents sweeter than were ever murmured by the 
Athenian bee. 

Who are your ministering" angels? Who are 
they who leave their quiet homes; their happy 
wives and sleeping children to give you comfort? 
I need not answer, for alas there are few hearts 
which bear such sympathy, unless you find them 
among the orders such as ours. And why do they 
thus act? It is because they are prompted by 
Love and are pledged in Truth to do so. 

But again. You may be surrounded by all that 
makes your home a happiness; numerous relatives 
and nominal friends; but your disease is conta- 
gious, and you are shunned as a pest. Do we then 
desert you? Are the unflinching wife, the devot- 
ed mother, the affectionate sister left alone in 
their arduous tasks? No, no! We furnish other 
assistance, or we still go ourselves and smooth the 
infected pillow! Our trust is sacred, and we will 
prove it so. 

But it may be that our efforts are all in vain; 
and if they are, and you go to your Father above, 
do we leave your body to the dogs, or to a care- 
less burial? No. You were our brother here, 
and we will meet you at the bar of God. Death 
does not sever the bands which bind us to thee. 
We will shroud thee in thy linen; we will place 
thee in thy narrow house, and weep upon thy 
sepulchre; thy dust shall not be desecrated by 
idle wanderers or strolling brutes. 

We will aid thy widow too. Oh, yes! She is a 
holy trust. Her name is woman. That were 
enough. Woman was the earthly mother of our 
blessed Lord. She was at the cross of Christ; she 
was first to seek his sepulchre; she was first to 
hear his voice after the resurrection; she it was 
who washed his feet; who poured the ointment on 
his head; who touched his garment in a living 
faith. 

Fear not. We will protect thy widow. Our 
mother's voice speaks, perhaps, from the tomb; 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 109 

our sister's soft cadence sweeps through space, 
and echoes, "protect the widow." 

Oh, woman! dear to us by all the recollections 
of our early home — we lisped upon thy knee the 
little prayer which is yet upon our lips, and heard 
thy warning voice: "Beware of evil. ,, We saw 
thee at the throne of grace and heard thy suppli- 
cations; and yet thy prayers go on and on; still do 
they rise to God. Can we forget the widow ? 
Forbid it gracious Heaven! By all that raises 
man above the beasts that perish, forbid it. By 
the sacred ties of Friendship, Love and Truth. 
forbid it. No, my brother, die in peace; we will 
protect thy widow. 

And thy little children, too; we will care for 
them, and will instruct them in the ways of peace. 
We will fondle them upon the lap of friendship, 
and cradle them in love, that they may reach the 
goal of truth. They will be around us as the buds 
and blossoms on the rod of Aaron; they shall be 
the brilliants in our diadem. We will hand thy 
name down to them, that in after life they may do 
honor to thy memory. We will do to them as 
fathers; they shall be to us as children. The 
bleak storms of adversity may howl; the cold 
wind of selfishness may blow; the tide of fortune 
may ebb, and leave them on a barren shore; but 
they shall not be friendless. We will instill in 
their minds the virtues of hope and confidence. 
Yes. brother; fear not for your little ones. Their 
cherub smiles and sparkling eyes will light the 
world with happiness and angels' hearts with joy; 
and when the harvest comes they will be gathered 
together in peace, with the just made perfect 
through grace. 



In connection with the foregoing address by Mr. 
Hildreth. upon this subject of Odd Fellowship, the 
editor deems it proj^er to append the following: 



110 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

DISTRICT DEPUTY GRAND MASTER'S COMMISSION. 

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 

FRIENDSHIP. LOVE AND TRUTH. 
(tRANI) LODGE OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

To Holyoke Lodge, No. 13£, Comprising District No. 
Nineteen, Greeting: 

Know ye, That I, Sam/1 B. Krogrnan, Grand 
Master, reposing especial confidence in the ability 
and fidelity of our worthy Brother, A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, do hereby appoint and constitute him Dis- 
trict Deputy Grand Master, for District No. 19. 
for the term of one year, or until his successor is 
appointed, from the date hereof, unless previously 
revoked; and you are hereby directed to receive 
and respect him in his official capacity as the Rep- 
resentative of the Grand Lodge and head of the 
Order in said District, in the absence of the Grand 
Master. 

It is his duty, — To visit officially every Sub- 
ordinate Lodge under his juristiction at least once 
in each Semi- Annual term; to examine the Work, 
and exact a compliance to the established Constitu- 
tion, Laws and Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of 
the United States, and of the Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts, and report any irregularity, fully, 
fairly, and promptly to the Grand Master under 
whose direction he shall act, and through whom 
he shall present all official communications to the 
Grand Lodge. 

In addition to the above, the D. D. Grand Mas- 
ter shall visit each Lodge under his jurisdiction at 
the first regular meeting in each Semi-annual 
Term, for the purpose of Installing the Officers: — 
provided, in all cases, that the Returns have been 
made out. He is empowered to appoint Past 
Grands to assist him in the Installation. After 
the Installation he shall present the N. G. the 
Semi-annual and Traveling Passwords in cypher. 

In case of sickness or other unavoidable circum- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. Ill 

stances, he is authorized to appoint a Past Grand 
to officiate in his place for the purpose of Install- 
ing Officers in his District; but this authority shall 
not extend to more than one Semi-annual Term, 
without the written consent of the Grand Master. 

He shall have power to grant dispensations to 
Lodges in his District for conferring Degrees, in 
less time than may be otherwise permitted, when 
circumstances require it, and to confer Official 
Degrees on Past Officers to whom they may have 
been voted by their Lodge. 

He is directed to submit a written Semi-annual 
Report of the State of the Order under his juris- 
diction, together with any decision he may have 
made not clearly explained in the Constitution and 
Laws, and any dispensation he may have granted; 
which Report shall be forwarded to the Grand 
Master, prior to the first days of February and 
August, to enable him to make his Report to the 
Grand Lodge. 

Dated at Boston, this 2d day of Aug., 1855. 

Saml B. Krogman, Grand Master. 

[seal.] Alfred Mudge, Grand Secretary. 



112 LIFE AND TIMES OP 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

A NEW HOME. HERE AND THERE. 

AFTER settling up his business in Bradford, 
Vt.. in January, 1853, Mr. Hildreth, with his 
family, removed to Holyoke, Mass. This at that 
time was a new manufacturing town of about five 
thousand inhabitants. Here he engaged in the 
mercantile business. Not many months elapsed, 
however, before he was induced by the leading 
citizens of the place to relinquish his store and 
once more embark in the business of printing and 
newspaper publishing. The parties heretofore 
engaged in the business at this place had not met 
the wants and requirements of that young and 
growing town, and it was desired by the more en- 
terprising citizens that they should have a man of 
experience and character, one that should do cred- 
it to the town at home and abroad. 

In the printing and newspaper business in Hol- 
yoke Mr. Hildreth was very successful and made 
money. His newspaper was named "The Holyoke 
Mirror." He conducted his business in Holyoke 
until November, 1855, when he sold out to Mr. 
M. C. Pratt, who took his place. He was induced 
to sell and close his business here by the more 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 113 

flattering temptations held out to him by parties 
then interested in opening up a new and magnifi- 
cent town in the then far West, viz: Charles City, 
in Floyd county, Iowa. To this place Mr. Hil- 
dreth removed with his family in the spring of 
1856. The country was new and many hardships 
and privations were to be endured. But never 
before were his spirits more buoyant; never did 
hope burn brighter. Here was opened before him 
a broad field for enterprise and usefulness. 

How unlike was this to the old and overcrowded 
towns of the Eastern States! There business is 
overdone, and competition crowds out or crushes 
under every new comer, who is looked upon as an 
interloper, while in the great and growing West 
men are wanted and are welcomed. 

In those early days Charles City contained a 
population of only a few hundred. Not a dozen 
frame houses were to be seen in the whole town, 
the others being built of logs, and several families 
were "dwellers in tents." Provisions were very 
scarce and could only be obtained at high prices. 
The few settlers who had come into the county 
during the previous . year had raised but a small 
quantity of farm produce, not nearly enough to 
supply the rapidly increasing demand of the im- 
migrants who succeeded them. The nearest mar- 
ket was Dubuque, distant 145 miles, and thither 
teams were dispatched to procure the necessaries 
of life. 



15 



114 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE INTELLIGENCER NEWSPAPER. 

k URING this first year, 1856, there was no time 
for idleness. Mr, Hildreth purchased his 
printing material, (all new,) in New York City and 
shipped it to Charles City. But he must necessa- 
rily have a building in which to place it on its ar- 
rival. He had bought in New York a chest of 
carpenter's tools, and with these, with his own 
hands and an assistant, he erected what has ever 
since been known as the ''Intelligencer Building," 
on the corner of Main and Kelly streets in Charles 
City. Much of the lumber for this building he 
carried on his shoulders from the Kelly saw-mill 
at the foot of Main street. The lower story was 
for a store, and the upper story for his printing 
office. All was ready to be occupied in June; and 
before cold weather came he had built a commodi- 
ous and comfortable dwelling house. 

On the 31st of July, 1856, he issued the first 
number of his newspaper, under the title of the 
"Republican Intelligencer. " It was a folio sheet, 
well edited, handsomely printed, and contained 
seven columns to the page. It had for its motto 
the often misquoted words of Bishop Berkeley: 
"Westward the course of empire takes its way." 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 117 

The news spread over town that the paper was 

about to appear, and several persons desired to 

secure the first impression. As there could be 

but one sheet of this kind, and nearly one hundred 

people had assembled in front of the printing 

office, all eager for the news, the crowd shouted: 

"Set up the first paper at auction; we will bid on 

it." This request was complied with, after which 

the following paragraph was promptly inserted: 

*'We stop the press to publish that, so great 
was the rush and anxiety among our friends to 
secure the first copy (impression) of the Intelligen- 
cer, an auction was proposed, when William Spen- 
cer, Esq. , as auctioneer, struck off the same to the 
highest bidder for the handsome sum of twenty 
dollars. The lucky purchasers were Duncan Fer- 
guson and G. B. Eastman, of the firm of Ferguson 
& Eastman, bankers, dealers in exchange, and 
land agents, Charles City, Iowa.'' 

During the day and evening a large number of 
subscriptions were handed in. and three editions 
of the paper, of one thousand each, were required 
to be printed before the demand could be supplied. 

During the first year of the publication of the 
Intelligencer its advertising patronage was so in- 
creased that, on Oct. 7, 1857, it was enlarged so as 
to give nine columns to the page, or thirty -six for 
the whole sheet. It was also given a new and 
beautiful heading. For this Mr. Hildreth designed 
a very pretty vignette, having in the centre the 
territorial seal of Iowa, (a hawk with an arrow 
in his beak and a bow in his talons, ) and on either 
side of it emblems of the settlement of a new 
country — the emigrant wagon, farming tools, 



118 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

sheaves of grain, the flowing river, flouring mill, 
printing press, Indians' tents, (tepees) and the red 
men gazing in astonishment upon the changed 
order of things. This design was engraved in 
Boston at the expense of thirty dollars. 

The financial crisis that came upon the country 
in 1857-58. affected the business men of Floyd 
county, as well as those of the Eastern States, and 
just as the Intelligencer had enlarged its capabili- 
ties for accommodating the business of the coun- 
try, its patronage and support began to decline, but 
the size of the paper was not cut down, nor was 
there any falling off in the ability and interest of 
its editorial columns, as was the case at that time 
with nearly all other Western newspapers. To 
maintain the present size and character of the 
Intelligencer, required economy and money, and 
then its publication could only be continued at a 
loss, some years of many hundreds of dollars. 
Fortunately Mr. Hildreth had the means to sus- 
tain himself in the arduous avocation. 

In 1862 the name of the paper was changed to 
"Hildreth's Charles City Intelligencer." Business 
revived and the paper prospered, and grew to be 
a power in the land. When it was first estab- 
lished the politics of the county were controlled 
by the Democratic party. Through the influence 
of the Intelligencer all this was changed — the Re- 
publicans came into power and thus remained 
with constantly increasing majorities, so long as 
Mr. Hildreth conducted the paper. From this 






AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 119 

time forward prosperity generally attended all of 
Mr. Hildreth's business efforts. 

Prom 1860, and during the succeeding nine 
years, the Intelligencer was appointed, by the Gen- 
eral Government, as one of the papers of Iowa in 
which to publish the laws of Congress. It also 
had the printing of the State laws during that 
time. A review of its columns shows that it had 
an able corps of correspondents, in Japan, and on 
the continent of Europe, as well as in Washington, 
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and 
other parts of the United States. Among its con- 
tributors were Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen, better 
known as "Florence Percy," author of "Rock me 
to Sleep, Mother," W. A. Bacon, of Detroit, Mich- 
igan, Matilda Fletcher, L. D. Ingersoll and others 
of Iowa. Its regular army correspondence during 
the war of the rebellion was full and of the high- 
est character. Among the latter writers was 
Winfield Scott Rider of Floyd, whose army letters 
were always perused with deep interest. 

In a volume entitled "The Valley and the Shad- 
ow," published in 1868, by J. M. Dixon, formerly 
associate editor of the --Iowa State Register," at 
DesMoines, under the head of "Iowa Journalism," 
is found the following: 

"Many of my readers have noticed, for several 
years, a sheet of elegant appearance, called the 
Intelligencer, which is published in Charles City, 
Floyd county. Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, its owner 
and conductor, was a member, several years since, 
of the State Board of Education, for which posi- 
tion his scholarly habits and tastes clearly adapt- 



120 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ed him. Subsequently he was a member of the 
Legislature, giving ample evidence that he was 
as proficient in legislating for the general inter- 
ests of Iowa as for the special interests of popular 
education. His enterprise and his admirable econ- 
omy, as well as his talent in editorial manage- 
ment, give him the ability to publish one of the 
finest weekly papers in all the Israel of Iowa. He 
is a gentleman of quick conception, of careful but 
not hesitating judgment, passionate in his love of 
literature, and very strong in his general attach- 
ments and prepossessions. It is a miracle of suc- 
cess that he never was compelled, through all the 
vicissitudes of the past eight years, to reduce the 
size of his very large paper, or to make any rad- 
ical changes in it which looked to diminution of 
weekly expenditure. 

But it should not be supposed that all was 
smooth sailing and an open sea in the manage- 
ment of the Intelligencer. With the masses of the 
people the paper was always popular, but with 
certain unworthy third-rate politicians the case 
was different. Men of this class found but little 
favor in the columns of the Intelligencer, and of 
course they were not pleased with it. These ' 'po- 
litical paupers" always wish to ride the press, but 
are never known to pay for riding. When their 
"claims" were rejected, and coaxing and flattery 
would effect nothing, threats were tried; they 
would '-kill the paper and hang its hide on the 
fence." But, instead of the "killing," the paper 
would thrive all the better under this kind of 
opposition. The common people are honest. 
They like a bold, faithful leader, one who will 
protect their interests, and expose corruption; and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 121 

when men set themselves up for office who have 
never shown capability in any legitimate business 
of their own, and abused the Intelligencer because 
they could not control it, the citizens of the coun- 
ty would give it a still more liberal support. The 
paper was always Republican in politics, and 
"principles rather than men" seems to have been 
its guiding sentiment. Under Mr. Hildreth's 
management it always maintained a high moral 
tone. Every parent felt safe in placing it in the 
hands of his children. Specialist medical adver- 
tisements were scrupulously excluded from its 
columns, no matter what the money temptation 
might be to to procure their insertion. 

On the 1st of October. 1870, after a period of 
over fourteen years of laborous editorial service 
in Charles City, Mr. Hildreth sold the Intelligencer 
and his entire printing establishment to Messrs. 
Dyke & Rowell. and retired permanently from the 
field of journalism. 

Amidst the multiplicity of business which Mr. 
Hildreth found constantly upon his hands, often 
taking him away from home, he was ably assisted 
by his energetic and accomplished wife, who 
would take charge of all his correspondence, his 
editorial work, and his financial affairs. She was 
to him a ••helpmeet" indeed, and he always gave 
her credit for doing even more than her full share 
in promoting their prosperity. 

Among Mr, Hildreth's contemopraries, during 
nearly fifteen years of editorial life in Iowa, may 
be mentioned your humble editor, Charles Al- 



122 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

drich, then of the Hamilton County Freeman; 
Frank M. Palmer and J. M. Dixon of the Des 
Moines Register; Clark Dunham of the Burlington 
Hawk Eye; L. D. Ingersoll of the Knoxville Jour- 
nal; John Mahin of the Muscatine Journal; J. B. 
Howell of the Keokuk Gate City; Charles Beards - 
ley and Lt. Gov. Needham of the Oskaloosa Her- 
ald; Perkins Brothers of the Cedar Falls Gazette; 
N. H. Brainerd of the Iowa City Republican; Lt. 
Governor Gue of the Fort Dodge North- West; Ed. 
Russell of the Davenport Gazette; Tom Drummond 
of the Vinton Eagle; Willis Drummond of the Mc- 
Gregor Neivs; J. L. McCreery and Jesse Clement 
of the Dubuque Times; Frank M. Mills of the Des 
Moines School Journal; and many others who 
might be named; all of whom have left their im- 
press upon the institutions, and habits and char- 
acter of the people of Iowa. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 



123 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



STATE BOARD OP EDUCATION. 



IN 1858 Mr. Hildreth was elected as a member of 
the State Board of Education, representing a 
District composed of the counties of Allamakee, 
Winneshiek, Howard, Mitchell, Floyd, Chickasaw, 
Fayette, Clayton, Bremer and Butler. [Elected 
with him on the same ticket, were Hon. Elias H. 
Williams, for Judge, and Milo McGlathery, for 
Prosecuting Attorney. ] 

This Board held its first session, under the new 
State Constitution, in the Senate Chamber of the 
Capitol at Des Moines, commencing on December 
6th, 1858. The representation was by Judicial 
Districts, and the members of the Board were: 

Ralph P. Lowe, Governor; ex-offlcio. 
1st District Charles Mason. 






2d 


T. B. Perry. 


3d 


' George P. Kimball. 


4th 


' D. E. Brainard. 


5th 


Dan Mills. 


6th 


Samuel F. Cooper. 


7th 


' Thomas H. Canfield 


8th 


Frank M. Connelly. 


9th 


O. H. P. Rozell. 


10th * 


A. B. F. Hildreth. 


11th 


' Isaac J. Mitchell. 



President — Oran Faville, Lieutenant Governor. 



124 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Secretary — Josiah T. Tubby, pro tern. After- 
wards, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., Permanent Sec'y. 

At subsequent sessions of the Board Samuel J. 
Kirkwood, Governor, was ex- officio member, and 
Nicholas J. Rusch, Lieutenant Governor, was 
President of the Board; while Thomas H. Benton, 
Jr., was continued as Secretary. 

This State Board of Education held its biennial 
sessions in the Capitol at Des Moines, and had 
control of all the educational interests of the 
State except private or sectarian institutions. As 
a member of this Board Mr. Hildreth held a prom- 
inent and leading- position, and the impress of his 
mind and acts is still left upon the educational 
laws and institutions of the State. 

Among the more important results of his legis- 
lative efforts in behalf of education was a law re- 
quiring the State University, at Iowa City, to be 
opened and free alike to young ladies as well as 
young gentlemen. This measure met with con- 
siderable opposition, both from the people and the 
press of the State — it being the popular opinion 
that it would never do to educate the sexes togeth- 
er. What an absurdity! As if man and woman 
were not created for each other. 

But, notwithstanding all the old fogy opposi- 
tion, the law prevailed, providing that *'the State 
University shall be for the free education of the 
youth of Iowa, of both sexes, upon equal terms in 
all respects;" and to-day no legislator dare raise 
his hand or voice in favor of its repeal. 

A few years later, when Mr. Hildreth was a 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 125 

member of the Legislature, he was appointed by 
that body as chairman of a select committee to in- 
vestigate and report the affairs of the University. 
He has frequently said that one of the proudest 
days of his life was when, by request of the Pres- 
ident, he was permitted to stand up in the Univer- 
sity Chapel, in the presence of more than two 
hundred young lady students and nearly as many 
young gentlemen students, and in the course of 
an address explain how it happened that those 
young ladies were permitted to enjoy such exalted 
educational privileges. When the exercises had 
closed, the grateful thanks tendered him by those 
young ladies, for his efforts in their behalf, repaid 
him a thousand fold for all that he had done for 
them. The officers and professors of the Univer- 
sity assured him that the plan of co-education was 
working well — that a spirit of emulation and rival- 
ry was awakened, which was profitable to both 
classes of students — and there was no difficulty in 
regard to morals and general deportment. 



126 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

REMARKS UPON CO-EDUCATION. 

HAVING said thus much in regard to Mr. Hil- 
dreth's efforts to secure the admission of 
females into the State University at Iowa City, it 
might be well to add the following copy of the 
record of proceedings on the subject, taken from 
the Journal of the Board of Education, under date 
of Thursday, December 23d, 1858: 

The bill for the government of the State Univer- 
sity being under consideration, 

Mr. Hildreth moved the following amendment, 
as a substitute for the first section. 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Board of Educa- 
tion of the State of Iowa, That the object of the 
State University of Iowa, established by the Con- 
stitution at Iowa City, shall be to provide the best 
and most efficient means of imparting to the youth 
of the State, of both sexes, upon equal terms, a thor- 
ough education, and a perfect knowledge of the 
different branches of literature, the arts and sci- 
ences, with their various applications." 

Mr. Hildreth said: 

Mr. President: — Upon this proposed amendment 
I wish to offer a few remarks. The Board will 
bear me witness that, during our deliberations, I 
have not sought to fritter away time by idle and 
constant talking, but have sought rather to hurry 
forward to a final consummation the busines en- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 127 

trusted to us by the people of the State, as rapid- 
ly as is consistent with safe legislation. It is 
therefore with the greater confidence that I ask 
the indulgence of the Board at this time. 

Sir, I understand that it was intended to give 
equal opportunities in the University to students 
of both sexes, and that the Trustees, the past sea- 
son, have excluded females from every department 
of that institution, except the Normal. 

Now, sir, could I control it, and one sex or the 
other must be excluded, I would exclude the males. 
The great object of education should be to fit the 
youth for the active duties of life; and I ask you, 
Mr. President, where lies the foundation of educa- 
tion? The answer is, in the nursery. It is there 
that the human mind receives its earliest, its most 
enduring impressions. Ask the teacher of the 
village school, or of any school, which is easier, 
to instil into the minds of his pupils new ideas and 
correct information, or to unlearn what has been 
learned wrongfully? He will tell you that fifty 
new principles or facts may be implanted in the 
young mind easier than to eradicate one erroneous 
impression. 

What then should be done? The answer is: 
Let us have educated mothers. Let females be 
properly educated. How unwise does that parent 
act, (that is if he has the welfare of community 
and the perfecting of future generations at heart,) 
who sends his blockhead son to college and re- 
tains his amiable daughter in seclusion at home! 
And how unwise would we act, were we to confirm 
the course of the Trustees and deny to the daugh- 
ters of Iowa access to the State University! 

' 'Train up a child in the way he should go. and 
when he is old he will not depart from it." How 
true the proverb! Let us follow the laws of na- 
ture. She consigns us at our birth neither to the 
care of a pedagogue nor to the tutelage of a phi- 
losopher, but entrusts us to the love and caresses 
of a fond mother. The mother calls around our 



128 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

couch the most graceful forms, the most harmo- 
nious sounds; for the sweet voice of woman be 
comes still sweeter for childhood. In fine, all that 
is delightful on earth Nature bestows on us in 
early age — the bosom of a mother on which to 
repose, her sweet looks to guide, and her tender- 
ness to instruct us. A preceptor may descend, 
without effort, to the level of his pupil — he may 
form a religious heart, a good citizen, an honest 
man — and he will have done his all. And what is 
there in this mission which a woman cannot do? 
Who, better than a mother, can teach us to prefer 
honor to fortune ; to cherish our fellow creatures ; 
to relieve the unfortunate; and to elevate our souls 
to the source of the beautiful and the infinite? 

Any ordinary tutor counsels and moralizes; that 
which he offers to our memory a mother engrafts 
on our hearts. She makes us love that which he 
can at most make us believe ; and it is by love that 
she leads us to virtue. 

Struck by the little care generally bestowed 
upon the education of women, and by the irresist- 
ible influence which they exert, the celebrated 
Sheridan conceived the idea of establishing for 
them, in England, a national education. He trans- 
mitted his plan to the Queen, and invited her to 
place herself at the head of the institution. "Wo- 
men govern us," said he. "let us try to render 
them perfect. The more they are enlightened, so 
much more so shall we be. On the cultivation of 
the minds of women depends the wisdom of men. 
It is by woman that Nature writes on the heart of 
man/' 

This, as may be perceived, was a great idea, 
and it would be difficult to estimate the influence 
which its execution would have exerted on Old 
England. In it was comprised a moral and politi- 
cal revolution; for woman, thus instructed, will 
never engrave on the heart of man anything but 
the dictates of evangelical charity, and of the 
noblest sacrifices to the interests of humanity. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 129 

Our pretensions, however, do not rise so high. 
We neither reckon upon the influence of kings, 
queens or princes, but in a general point of view 
upon maternal influence — an influence which is 
exerted upon the heart — which through the heart 
may direct the mind, and which, in order to save 
and regenerate the world, only requires to be 
properly directed. 

This influence exists everywhere. It every- 
where determines our sentiments, our opinions, 
our tastes; it everywhere decides our fate. 

"The future destiny of a child," said Napoleon. 
••is always the work of its mother," And the 
great man took pleasure in repeating that it was 
owing to his mother that he had raised himself so 
high. 

The young mother, virtuous, beautiful and en- 
lightened, sheds over her offspring all the light 
of love. The virtues which she inspires in her 
son; the little prayer which she teaches him; ad- 
dress themselves not merely to his intellect, but, 
by becoming implanted in his soul, they elicit 
divine sounds — a harmony which ascends to Heav- 
en. Thus surrounded from the cradle with exam- 
ples of the most touching piety, the child walks 
in the ways of the Lord, under the tuition of his 
mother; his genius resembles incense, the per- 
fumes of which are diffused over the earth, but 
which only burn for Heaven. 

But notwithstanding all that I have said, our 
government and our laws have an interest in the 
subject. A late Governor of a neighboring State 
has remarked that "the importance of general 
education in a Republican Government, which 
must be sustained by the intelligence and virtue 
of the people, cannot be too highly appreciated." 

The system of free schools which has been 
transmitted from generation to generation, has 
improved in its progress, and is now in a high 
degree of perfection. But it is capable of still 
further improvement. 



130 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

While I would advocate the higher courses of 
study taught in the University, and would by all 
means make them accessible to both males and 
females, I would not be thought to overlook the 
primary or common schools of the State. Not 
alone in the Board of Education rests the care of 
these however; but in the town or district meet- 
ings — those little pure democracies where our 
children first learn the rudiments and the practical 
operation of free institutions — may safely and 
rightly be placed, to a great extent, the direction 
and the government of these invaluable semina- 
ries. The main efforts and the most unceasing 
vigilance of the Government and of this Board 
should be directed to the encouragement and per- 
fection of the common schools. These are the 
fountains whence flow the knowledge that should 
enlighten, and the virtue that should preserve, 
our free institutions. Let them ever be kept free 
and pure. 

I was, not long since, forcibly struck with the 
importance of a general diffusion of education by 
the perusal of an address of Hon. Henry A. Wise, 
of Virginia, to his constituents. There is not a 
party topic in this address, but there is much that 
is far better for the people of Virginia. May the 
Old Dominion — the "mother of Presidents" — aye, 
and the whole South and West, profit by it. 

Mr. Wise says: "If I had an arch-angel's trump, 
the blast of which would startle the living of all 
the world, I would snatch it at this moment and 
sound it in the ears of all the people of the debtor 
States, and of the States which have a solitary 
poor, unwashed and uncombed child, untaught at 
a free school — tax yourselves! For what? First, 
to pay your public debt; second, to educate your 
children, every one of them, at common, primary, 
free schools, at State charge." The taunt of some 
of the presses that his constituents would always 
elect him because they had no newspapers, but 
few schools, and that one-eighth of them could 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 131 

neither read nor write, troubled him to the heart. 
He says he never blushed till then. He felt that 
there was truth in the reproach, and all he could 
do, as a proud, honest and brave man. was to bow 
in sorrow to the fact, and swear that it should be 
so no longer. 

Thankful ought we to be that our young and 
rapidly growing State of Iowa has thus early made 
such ample provision for the education of all her 
children. Here the instruction of the common 
mind is, and should be, the common concern. 
Let the whole people be educated and brought up 
to the standard of good citizens, and intelligent 
and moral members of society. 

To the Board of Education is entrusted an ardu- 
ous and responsible duty. Let us address our- 
selves to the work, and care for those who have 
no one else to care for them. The poor, the weak, 
the depressed and the neglected, have the great- 
est need of our protecting arm and succoring hand. 
Let the town or district schools be open to all, 
and also the University, and be placed upon such 
a basis that all may desire to enter them. 

The district school, properly governed, and in- 
structed, is a nursery of republican sentiments. 
It strikingly illustrates the fundamental principles 
of our Government. There, before the pride of 
family or wealth, or the adventitious distinction of 
birth has taken deep root in the young heart, 
assemble upon a perfect level children of all cir- 
cumstances and conditions in life. There they 
learn that rewards and honors do not depend upon 
accidental advantages, but upon superior dili- 
gence, good conduct and improvement. There 
they have practically written upon their tender 
minds, too deeply to be obliterated by the after 
occurrences and changes of life, the great princi- 
ples of equal rights, equal privileges and equal 
advantages. 

The citizens of Iowa may be said to rank among 
the most practical and intelligent inhabitants of 



132 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

this or any other country. Their onward march 
to true greatness has even now placed them in the 
front rank of modern civilization and refinement. 

The penal and civil codes of Iowa; her judicial 
tribunals; her towns and villages; her farms and 
manufactories; her temples of religion and chari- 
table institutions; her constitution and her laws; 
her literary institutions — as well as her common 
schools — the morality and industry of her citizens ; 
all give her an elevated rank among enlightened 
States. 

All these, under a government of the people, 
are not the achievements of an ignorant popula- 
tion. They bear upon them the impress of the 
most enlightened views of policy executed with the 
greatest prudence, wisdom and firmness. They 
are the trophies of freedom, and the proudest 
monuments of a nation's glory! 

But history and experience prove that, as re- 
spects States and Nations, as well as individuals, 
the vigilance, virtue and wisdom that have ac- 
quired, must be doubled to preserve and perpetu- 
ate true greatness. 

Knowledge is power; it should be power; it 
always will be power; and he who wants knowl- 
edge in a free government must seek for it as for 
hidden treasures. As general education is the 
best security of freedom — as the rights of man 
must be understood to be appreciated; and as all 
we have and enjoy of human liberty has been ac- 
quired by the people — they fought the battles of 
the revolution — they declared the independence of 
the United States— they laid the foundation of free 
government — they adopted our constitutions and 
sustained them in peace and in war — this people, 
this popular sovereignty, which redeemed these 
States, and which may, by its example, redeem 
the world from the dominion of tyrants, demands, 
and I am proud to say is receiving, ample provi- 
sion for universal education. Enlightened public 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 133 

opinion will be a wall of fire around our free insti- 
tutions and preserve them inviolate forever! 

In conclusion, let it always be remembered, 
while a sound, practical, common school education 
is the surest foundation of virtue and patriotism; 
that it strengthens and adorns every Christian 
grace; that without it the treasures of inspiration 
are in a great degree sealed — and the light which 
has been mercifully provided to guide man through 
this world, and shed its rays upon his pathway to 
immortal happiness, is but dimly reflected. 

On motion, the adoption of Mr. Hildreth's amend- 
ment, providing for the admission of females to 
the State University, on equal terms with the 
males, was carried, and is in full force at the pres- 
ent time. 



134 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE WINNEBAGO INDIANS. 

AS illustrative of Indian character, an editorial 
article, by Mr. Hildreth, in the Charles City 
Intelligencer of Feb. 25, 1858, gives the following: 

A ride of fifteen minutes, the other day, brought 
us to an encampment of the Winnebago Indians. 
It occupies a retired and protected spot in the 
Cedar river timber, about one mile north of town, 
The band, numbering thirty-two all told, are a 
part of the once powerful tribe of Winnebagoes 
and are on a visit to their former hunting grounds 
and to the graves of their kindred. As we neared 
their encampment, and saw the smoke curling 
from their wigwams, we thought of the time when 
beautiful Iowa was one vast wilderness, unadorned 
by art and unadmired by the eye of white man. 
and when only the Indian hunter's shout awoke 
the solitude. In imagination we saw him return 
to his lodge, loaded with the spoils of the chase, 
to lie down to rest. We saw him awake from 
sleep and gird about his loins the cruel tomahawk 
and scalping-knife, while piercing war-whoops 
rang from dell to dell. We heard the red man's 
cry of death— the white man's shout of victory. 
Again we looked, and the colossal wheel was set 
in motion whose accelerated revolutions were to 
keep time with the pulsations of a new State's 
ambitious heart, and hurry forward the multitudi- 
nous throng that were to people Iowa's vast do- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 135 

mains, develop her resources and build up her 
cities, — landmarks of her liberation from the dark- 
ness of barbarism. 

Applying for admission at the most conspicuous 
of the tents, we were given to understand that we 
were welcome. We found the Indians variously 
engaged, — making fishing tackle, dressing game, 
cleaning guns, arranging their toilet, etc. Wapi- 
nicon, or w> Capt. Jim," as he is familiarly called 
by the whites, whose acquaintance we had made 
some time before, coming in and recognizing us, 
we were invited to a seat by his side and a smoke 
of the "pipe of peace." This led us to be sociably 
inclined; so, with Capt. Jim's English and our 
knowledge of the Indian vernacular, we whiled 
away an hour in agreeable conversation. From 
him we learned that the Winnebago tribe were 
now reduced to about two thousand souls. The 
majority of them are on the Indian Reservation in 
Minnesota. Two or three of their most noted 
braves are now in Washington. There are nine- 
teen chiefs in the tribe, each of whom, with his 
band, is in the habit of visiting the white settle- 
ments, on a trading and begging tour three or 
four times a year. During these expeditions they 
seldom commit depredations of any kind, which 
fact secures to them many favors from the whites. 

Their tents are constructed by enclosing poles 
set in the ground, forming a room of fifteen or 
twenty feet in diameter. The tops of the poles 
are tied together, and the sides are covered with 
canvas, skins, or mats made of bark. A hole is 
left at the top for the smoke to escape. Their 
fires are on the ground in the centre of the tent, 
and are kept burning day and night. Over the 
fire are hung large wooden hooks on which they 
boil their samp, roast and smoke their venison, 
&c. They sleep on blankets or mats spread upon 
the ground, with little or no protection from the 
cold. In winter they are rather filthy in their 
habits, but in summer they pay more regard to 



136 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

cleanliness. Playing cards is a favorite pastime 
with the Indians and it frequently affords them 
much profit. They are generally more skilled in 
the use of the "primers" than the whites who 
often gamble with them. 

The Chief of the band was absent, hunting, 
much to our regret. He is called "Bradford" by 
the whites. His Indian name we did not learn. 
He speaks English well and can read and write. 
Thanking Capt. Jim for his courtesy, and shaking 
his hand, we bade him and his companions good- 
bye and left. 



The Winnebagoes were formerly owners of the 
soil upon which Charles City is built. Here were 
their wigwams and here repose the bones of their 
ancestors. Their principal village was upon the 
beautiful plateau, west side of the Cedar river, 
where the stone schoolhouse of Charles City now 
stands. Wapinicon, ("Capt. Jim,") was one of 
their chiefs, and for several years had charge of 
the Indian families lingering in this vicinity. He 
spent his time trapping and fishing, and was a 
staunch friend of the white man. In 1853 he made 
a journey to Washington, D. C, and boasted that 
he dined with President Pierce. He afterward 
took great delight in exhibiting a letter presented 
him by his "great white father," wherein he is 
given the cognomen of "Capt. James French.'' 
and recommended to the friendship of all the 
President's "pale faced" children. 

During the earlier years of the settlement of the 
upper Cedar river valley by the whites, Wapini- 
con's tribe was broken into fragments, and the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 137 

families lived in different places among the white 
settlers as a protection against the relentless 
Sioux who waged against them perpetual warfare. 
Whenever a Sioux and a Winnebago met one of 
them had to die. "'White Cloud" was the great 
chief who had charge of all the Winnebago tribes 
in this region. He had his headquarters with 
Col. Sumner at Fort Atkinson. 

In January, 1857, an ambrotype picture was 
taken of Wapinicon or Wapsipinicon, (Capt. Jim,) 
in connection with his friend John A. Y. Chap- 
man of Charles City. At first the old chief re- 
fused to sit for his picture, on the ground that he 
needed better clothing. "White man dress well 
enough," he said. But on handing him a rifle, and 
his friend taking another, saying they would be 
hunters, he took his seat before the camera and 
gazed at it with intense interest. Mr. Chapman 
took a seat by his side and the picture was taken 
at once. Subsequently Capt. Jim made a present 
of this picture to his "friend," Mr. Hildreth. 

Capt. Jim said he disliked living in Minnesota, 
because there "white man cheat much." Being 
asked if he was cheated in Charles City, he said 
"No; good people here — white man honest — he no 
cheat Indian." His squaw was very good looking 
—not more than thirty-five years old, while he 
appeared to be fifteen years older. She main- 
tained perfect silence unless spoken to by the 
chief; but their little "brave," of a dozen years, 
went freely about the white man's premises look- 
ing inquisitively into everything. He and the 

18 



138 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

other Indian boys had in some way discovered that 
printer's types could be melted and made into 
bullets, and whenever these Indian boys visited 
the printing office they needed to be sharply 
watched to prevent them from stealing type from 
the cases. 

From Capt. Jim it was learned that the Winne- 
bago village, where Charles City now stands, was 
called Wa-shood Ne-shun-a-ga-tah Che-nug-a-da- 
tah. That is: Timber River Village. 

Shell Rock River, in Indian, was: Da-shon-ugh 
Ne-shun-a-ga-tah. That is: Otter River. 

Lime Creek was: Lo-quin Ne-shun-a-ga-tah; 
meaning Low Bushes or Brush River. 

Cedar River was: Wa-shood Ne-shun-a-ga-tah; 
meaning Big Timber River. 

Little Cedar River was: Wa-shood Ne-hun-hun- 
a-ga-tah; neaning Small Timber River. 

Wapsipinicon River was: Sem-por-a-ka-tah. 
meaning Ground Nuts. 

Turkey River was: Siz-ze-ka-ta Shun-a-ga-tah. 
That is: Wild Turkey River. 

Since the Indian massacre near New Ulm, dur- 
ing the late war, and the removal of the Indians 
by Government from Minnesota, the visits of the 
Winnebagoes to Charles City have wholly ceased. 

The Winnebagoes are a tribe of the Dakota fam- 
ily of North American Indians. With the Quap- 
pas and Tuteloes they formed the van of the east- 
ward Dakotah migration, and were forced back to 
Green Bay. They were then numerous- and formi- 
dable, and ruled by terror over the neighboring 






AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 139 

Algonquin tribes. In the early part of the 17th. 
century a general alliance of tribes attacked the 
Winnebagoes, whose numbers were greatly re- 
duced. They sided with the English during the 
Revolutionary war, were active in the Miami war, 
and made peace after being defeated by Gen. 
Wayne. They adhered to Tecumseh, and during 
the war of 1812 sided with England. But they 
made a treaty of peace and friendship in 1816. 
They took part in the Blackhawk war in 1831, and 
by the treaty of Fort Armstrong, 1832, ceded all 
their land south of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers I 
In 1876 there were 1,500 of them in Nebraska, 800 
in Wisconsin, and none in Iowa. They cultivate 
farms, have schools, and dress like white people. 



140 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF IOWA. 

THE Iowa State Board of Education, that first 
assembled at Des Moines in December, 1858, 
held several succeeding sessions, until it was 
finally abolished, under a constitutional provision, 
in 1864. This Board was composed of some of the 
ablest and most discerning men in the State. It 
was their business to enact a code of laws for the 
government and maintenance of a system of edu- 
cation — to lay the foundation for free public 
schools which should be for the education of all the 
children of Iowa — and they did their work well. 
No better schools now are to be found in any part 
of the Union. The percentage of illiteracy in 
Iowa is smaller than that of any other State — be- 
ing less than one per cent, of her population — and 
her public schools are the boast and pride of all 
her citizens. 

Samuel F. Miller, of Keokuk, late Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, in an article 
written by him for Harper's New Monthly Maga- 
zine for July, 1889, says: 

"The liberality of Congress in granting lands 
for the purposes of education in all Western States 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 141 

where the soil primarily belonged to the Govern- 
ment, cannot be too highly commended. In ad- 
dition to grants like 500,000 acres to aid in the 
establishing of a University, Congress granted 
later to each State in the Union a large amount for 
the establishment of an agricultural college, and 
a provision in the act for the admission of the 
State of Iowa gave to her live per cent, of all sales 
by the United States of the public lands within 
the State, to aid the University. But there was 
the grandest gift of all in the provision in the 
same act that the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sec- 
tions of every township of the public land should 
be appropriated for the purposes of Common 
Schools, under the supervision of the State. The 
State herself has supplemented these gifts with 
contributions of her own, and with taxes levied 
on the people of each locality for the support of 
schools, so that these contributions and provisions 
have created a system by which every child in the 
State of Iowa, from the age of six to sixteen 
years, may pass six to eight months of each year 
of his life in attendance on school without charge. 
The rigid enforcement of this system has dotted 
the whole surface of the State with comfortable 
school-houses. As a system calculated to educate 
every human being in the State up to a certain 
degree of attainment, it is difficult to see how it 
could be much improved. One of the incidents of 
this system is that most of the teachers are fe- 
males, to whom the compensation is quite a bless- 
ing. They are generally better adapted to the 
education and training of children in their early 
youth than men, and who have, in the State of 
Iowa, at least, done credit to the sex by their skill, 
their diligence and good conduct. 

"The purpose of this school system was prima- 
rily to educate the youth in the elements of an 
English education — reading, writing, arithmetic, 
orthography, geography, grammar, history. In 
some of the more ambitious towns and cities there 



142 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

has been engrafted upon this, and paid for from 
the same source, what is often called the High 
School or Grammar School, in which are taught, 
in addition to the branches just mentioned, the 
dead languages, often Latin, sometimes Greek, 
and German and French. These High Schools in 
the larger cities are to some extent the equivalents 
of lower grades of colleges, and no doubt better 
education is frequently obtained in them than can 
be had in poorly endowed and struggling colleges. ■•' 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 143 



CHAPTER XXX. 



COMMISSIONER OF DRAFT. 



IN the spring of 1861, immediately after the 
breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, an 
order was issued, under the State laws, for exam- 
ination to be made of all men between eighteen 
and forty-five years of age who claimed exemption 
from military duty. Mr. Hildreth was appointed 
Draft Commissioner for Floyd county, Iowa, by 
Gov. S. J, Kirkwood, since known as Iowa's "War 
Governor." Every able bodied citizen in the 
county, liable to bear arms, was promptly enrolled 
and held subject to draft when a draft should be 
ordered. This difficult and delicate business was 
transacted with fidelity and to the satisfaction of 
all concerned. 

A highly colored description of the efforts of 
certain persons to procure exemptions from draft, 
written by W. P. Gaylord of Nora Springs, is 
found in a recent publication entitled a "History 
of Floyd County, Iowa," which is copied as fol- 
lows : 

"Mr. Hildreth traveled over the county distrib^ 
uting notices, appointing a time at which all per- 
sons, claiming exemption on account of physical 



144 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

disability, should present themselves to the exam- 
ining surgeon; and when the time arrived it was 
both exciting and amusing to witness the crowds 
of able bodied men swarming around Dr. Smith's 
office, with all sorts of ailments, both genuine and 
counterfeit. Such a day for invalids and cripples, 
as were congregated at Charles City on that day. 
has not been since the days when the lame, the 
halt and the blind gathered around the pools of 
Bethesda and Siloam. Young men, who had 
shaved for years, suddenly dodged behind their 
eighteenth year and became boys again. Others 
inwardly said: "Oh, if I were a boy again!" 
Those for whom there was no escape on account 
of age. with forlorn look and quivering lips as 
suddenly plunged forward over the boundary line 
of forty-five. Those who but a few days before 
had been boasting of their superior strength and 
great endurance, were hardly able to walk up- 
right; while those whose hearing had always been 
acute, on that day could scarcely hear it thunder. 
Some fell to coughing, as if consumption were 
setting in, and others who had no present trouble 
had had some ailment years before, and were 
liable to have it again!" 

In addition to the foregoing it should be added 
that several men of the county claimed, under 
oath, that they were subjects of Queen Victoria, 
having been born in Canada or in England or Ire- 
land, and were never naturalized; and yet these 
men had voted in the county at every election, had 
held offices and served as jurors! But it should 
be stated that nine-tenths of the men of the coun- 
ty were good loyal and patriotic Union men, and 
enlisting progressed rapidly whenever calls for 
troops were made. 






AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 145 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A MEMBER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

IN the fall of 1863 Mr. Hildreth was elected to 
represent the 54th District of Iowa in the Tenth 
General Assembly. As a legislator he acquitted 
himself with much credit and to the general ac- 
ceptance of his constituents. He was appointed 
Chairman of the Committee on Schools and State 
University, and was also a member of the Com- 
mittee on Banks and Banking, and of the Commit- 
tee on Printing. Any one at all familiar with the 
business of legislation, can readily understand 
that these were important committees, and that 
the amount of labor incumbent upon them was 
necessarily large. 

Mr. Hildreth was very successful in carrying 
through the Legislature whatever measure he 
undertook. Among the more important measures, 
and one that proved of lasting benefit to his part 
of the State, was a Memorial to Congress asking 
for a grant of land to aid in the construction of a 
railroad on or near the 43d parallel of north lati- 
tude, and passing from McGregor on the Missis- 
sippi river westward through his own town of 
Charles City. Repeated efforts had been made by 



146 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

others to obtain this land grant and thus secure 
the building of this railroad, but all had signally 
failed, until the enterprise was taken hold of by 
Mr. Hildreth. The memorial was as follows: 

MEMORIAL FOR A 

GRANT OF LAND TO AID IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF 
THE M'GREGOR RAILROAD. 

INTRODUCED BY 

HON. A. B. F. HILDRETH, 

AND PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IOWA. 
APPROVED MARCH 8TH, 1864. 

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in 
Congress assembled: 

Your memorialists, the General Assembly of the 
State of Iowa, would respectfully represent that, 
by an act of Congress approved May 15th, 1856, in 
answer to a memorial of the General Assembly of 
the State of Iowa, a grant of lands was made to 
said State to aid in the construction of three of the 
four Railroads named in said memorial. That one 
one of the Railroads, to-wit: that from McGregor 
westward, named in said memorial of the General 
Assembly of Iowa, was ommitted from, or left out 
of the said grant. That the route of said Railroad 
from McGregor westward, would follow very near- 
ly the forty-third parallel of north latitude, and 
would commence from a point at least eighty miles 
north of Dubuque, by the course of the Mississippi 
river, and in its entire length would traverse a 
line about forty miles north of that of the Dubuque 
and Sioux City Railroad. 

That, in our opinion, a great portion of the 
northwestern part of the State of Iowa, and the 
southwestern portion of the State of Minnesota, 
must remain for a long time unsettled, unless en- 
couraged by Railroad facilities. That it is be- 
lieved that the granting of alternate sections of 
land to this State, under proper restrictions, for 
the purpose of aiding in the construction of the 






AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 147 

Railroad above mentioned, will have a direct ten- 
dency to promote, not only the best interests of 
the State of Iowa and Minnesota, but of the Gen- 
eral Government. Therefore, 

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of 
Iowa, That our Senators in Congress are hereby 
instructed, and our Representatives requested, to 
use their best endeavors to procure the passage of 
a law granting to the State of Iowa alternate sec- 
tions of land along the line of the proposed Rail- 
road, to an equal extent and under like privileges 
and restrictions with the grants made to the said 
other Railroads of Iowa, by said act of May 15th, 
1856, exempting and excepting all lands hereto- 
fore granted by Congress to the State of Iowa, or 
claimed by actual settlers, to- wit: Commencing 
at McGregor, on the west bank of the Mississippi 
river, thence running westward by the most prac- 
ticable route, on or near the forty-third parallel of 
north latitude, to a point in the western bounds of 
Iowa, between Sergeant's Bluff and the northern 
boundary of the State, and that the lands likely to 
be within the scope of the applied for grant, now 
for sale, be immediately withdrawn from market; 
and wherever the lands are not in market, the 
same be withheld from sale until sufficient time 
shall have expired for the particular location of 
this Railroad, and the selecting of the lands to be 
conveyed in said grant. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be, and is 
hereby instructed to forward a copy of the fore- 
going memorial and resolutions to each of the 
Senators and Representatives in Congress, to the 
Secretary of the Interior, and to the Commission- 
er of the General Land Office. 

Jacob Butler, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Enoch W. Eastman, 

President of the Senate. 

Approved March 8th. 1864. 

W. M. Stone, Gov. 



148 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Office of Secretary of State, 

I, James Wright, Secretary of State of the 
State of Iowa, hereby certify that the foregoing is 
a true and correct copy of the original roll on file 
in my office. 

. — *■ — In testimony whereof, I have hereun- 
j r q [to set my hand and affixed the Great 
j '""■) Seal of the State of Iowa. 
— v — Done at Des Moines, this 9th day of 
March, A. D., 1864. 

James Wright, Sec'y of State. 

Mr. Hildreth was in constant correspondence 
with the Iowa Senators and Representatives in 
Congress regarding the land grant, and finally the 
memorial received favorable action on the part of 
Congress. The grant of land was made as prayed 
for in the memorial, and as a result the railroad 
was built and operated within a few years, from 
McGregor westward to Chamberlain on the Mis- 
souri river in South Dakota. The country along 
the entire line of the road was rapidly settled up 
by an enterprising and industrious class of people 
who found the road of the utmost convenience and 
benefit. 

The Journal of the House of Representatives of 
the Tenth General Assembly, under date of Tues- 
day, January 26th, 1864, has the following, under 
the head of Resolutions: 

Mr. Hildreth introduced the following joint res- 
olution : 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
concurring, That a joint committee, consisting of 
two from the House and one from the Senate, be 
appointed to visit the State University and the 
Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Iowa City, and examine 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 149 

into their condition and necessities, and report the 
same to the General Assembly. 

The resolution was adopted and concurred in by 
the Senate. 

The Speaker, Jacob Butler, on the part of the 
House of Representatives, appointed for the above 
named Committee. A. B. F. Hildreth and R. Sears; 
and the President of the Senate, Enoch W. East- 
man, appointed J. B. Young to represent the Sen- 
ate. 

On the 15th of February, 1864, the above-named 
Committee made their Report, which is copied 
from the Journal of the House of Representatives, 
as follows: 

Mr. Hildreth. from Committee apxDointed to visit 
the State University and Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 
by leave submitted the following report: 

The Joint Committee appointed to visit the 
State University and Deaf and Dumb Asylum, at 
Iowa City, having performed their duty, respect- 
fully submit the following report: 

The State University is in a very prosperous 
condition, numbering four hundred and four stu- 
dents during the current collegiate year, and bear- 
ing every evidence of ability and fidelity upon the 
part of those having its management and control. 
Forty-three counties are represented in this Insti- 
tution by the attendance of students from said 
counties. 

[Here is given a list of counties represented and 
the number of students from each.] 

Total number residents of Iowa, 384; number of 
students from other States, 20. making an aggre- 
gate of 404. 

The list embraces all the students in the several 
departments of the Universaty, exclusive of the 



150 



LIFE AND TIMES OF 



Model School. The average age of the students 
is eighteen years. 

The following statistics may be interesting as 
showing the progress made by this Institution 
during the three years last past, and the relative 
proportion of students from Johnson county: 



YEAR. 


NO. OF 
STUDENTS. 


NO. FROM 
JOHNSON CO. 


NO. FROM OTHER 
CO. AND STATES. 


NO. OF COUNTIES 
REPRESENTED. 


1860-61 


172 

254 

288 

404 


100 

141 

157 

164 


72 


32 


1861-62 


113 


25 


1862-63 
1863-64 


131 

240 


34 

43 











It appears from the above statistical statement 
that the number of students in the State Universi- 
ty has been steadily and rapidly increasing, while 
the relative proportion of students residing in 
Johnson county has been constantly diminishing, 
and that this Institution has already become a 
favorite with the people of the State. Many fam- 
ilies have taken up a temporary residence in Iowa 
City, for the purpose of educating their children 
in the University. 

Of the students now in attendance one hundred 
and one have received their tuition free, and in 
regard to their places of residence represent forty- 
two counties. 

The recitations and exercises of the several 
classes in the different departments, at which your 
Committee had the pleasure to be present, were 
highly creditable to the students as well as to 
their instructors, and evinced on the part of the 
Faculty and other teachers connected with the 
Institution, a degree of ability, tact, energy and 
industry, worthy of special commendation. 

The remarkable prosperity of the Institution 
deserves the highest consideration, and, in the 
opinion of your Committee, the present General 
Assembly should take such action in relation to 
the University that its efficiency may not be im- 
paired nor its prosperity retarded. 

The room used as a Chapel is inadequate, to 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 151 

accommodate the students already in attendance, 
not to speak of the probable increase in the num- 
ber of students and of the necessity for a chapel 
sufficiently large and commodious for lecture pur- 
poses and commencement exercises. 

The University buildings are also deficient in 
not containing rooms suitable for a chemical lab- 
oratory. 

In the report of the Board of Trustees of the 
State University, the wants above referred to are 
fully set forth, and a plan proposed by them is 
herewith presented for an additional building to 
contain a spacious chapel and a laboratory with a 
tower and observatory, the estimated cost of which 
is twenty-five thousand dollars. 

In the opinion of your Committee, the Universi- 
ty, with an additional building, similar to the one 
proposed by the Board of Trustees, would afford 
better facilities for the education of one thousand 
students than are now afforded for the education 
of four hundred. 

Hoping that the embarrassments which now 
surround our National and State Governments will 
not deter members of the General Assembly from 
taking high ground in regard to the educational 
interests of the State, nor cause them to overlook 
the fact that the claims of education are of para- 
mount importance to almost any other ciaims, nor 
make them unmindful of the great political truth 
that enlightened virtue is the only sure foundation 
for a free government, your Committee commend 
the State University to your favorable considera- 
tion, in the full belief that you will pursue a liber- 
al policy in respect thereto, and that you will take 
such action as will be promotive of the best inter- 
ests of the University, as well as the State at 
large. 

THE DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM. 

The Iowa Institution for the education of the 
Deaf and Dumb is in as good condition as could 



152 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

reasonably be expected under the circumstances. 
It has not been provided with any suitable build- 
ings, pleasure grounds, furniture and many other 
conveniences which are essential to the proper 
management of such an institution, and to the 
personal comfort of its inmates. For a full and 
detailed statement of its financial condition, statis- 
tics. &c. , your Committee beg leave to refer to the 
Fifth Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees. 

The pupils now in attendance number fifty-eight 
and are from almost as many different counties. 
They are quite intelligent and seem to be making 
rapid progress in the acquisition of knowledge. 
Much effort has been made by those having the 
control and management of this Institution to ren- 
der it efficient; to administer to the physical com- 
fort and promote the mental culture of the unfor- 
tunates committed to their care. 

An earnest desire was manifested on the part of 
the deaf mutes and their preceptors, that build- 
ings suitable for their use should be erected, in 
some place, with pleasure grounds attached for 
their recreation. The building now occupied by 
them is not adapted to the purpose for which it is 
used, and is very much out of repair. The furni- 
ture and bedding are, for the most part, such as 
we might expect to find in an ordinary alms-house. 
Humanity, as well as the fair fame of the State, 
demands an immediate appropriation sufficient at 
least to purchase good furniture and bedding for 
the use of this Institution. 

Your Committee would further recommend an 
increased appropriation to defray the current ex- 
penses, in view of the present high price of every 
article of food. The amount heretofore appropri- 
ated to meet the ordinary expenditures will be 
inadequate for that purpose during the ensuing 
two years. 

If compatible with the public interest in other 
respects, an appropriation should be made by the 
present General Assembly for the purpose of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 153 

erecting and constructing a suitable Asylum for 
the deaf and dumb children and youth of the 
State. As now situated the students have no op- 
portunity to learn trades and thereby render them- 
selves useful. There are no workshops for them, 
and no funds to purchase stock or material for 
manufacture, and defray expenses of such shops. 
We deem it essential that every pupil should not 
only be educated, but should have an opportunity 
to learn some useful branch of handicraft whereby 
he may gain a livelihood. 

Humanity calls loudly for the relief of this un- 
fortunate class of our population; the dignity and 
honor of the State demand it; and the great heart 
of the people will respond amen! to every proper 
effort put forth to ameliorate their unhappy con- 
dition. All of which is respectfully submitted. 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH, 

Chairman of Committee. 



Previous to 1864 the money belonging to the 
State School Fund was loaned by the County 
Supervisors, who took real estate securities, called 
4 'School fund mortgages/' The stringency of the 
times, caused by the panic of 1858, and the suc- 
ceeding war of the great rebellion, caused the 
debtors, and consequently the Board of Supervis- 
ors, to be considerably behindhand with the col- 
lection and proper disbursement of these funds, 
the law all the while remaining that the moneys 
should be kept intact. In many counties of the 
State the arrearages were considerable. In this 
stage of affairs. Mr. Hildreth, in the General As- 
sembly of 1864, introduced a "bill for an act to 
provide for the loan of the permanent school-fund, 
and fixing the rate of interest thereon, and limit- 



154 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing the price at which school lands may be sold, 
and for other purposes." 

This bill required the supervisors to collect 
these moneys loaned, by foreclosing the mort- 
gages, if necessary. When the subject came up 
for discussion Charles Paulk, the member from 
Allamakee county, led off in opposition to the bill. 
The fact was, that from $15,000 to $20,000 were 
loaned out in his county, a large portion of which 
was a dead loss. Other members of the House 
followed Mr. Paulk in the opposition to the bill, 
and when the vote was taken the House refused 
to pass it. The fact was developed that more than 
half the members were debtors to the school fund ! 

But the House passed for a substitute to the 
above a bill simply regulating the rate of interest. 
Mr. Hildreth followed this substitute into the 
Senate, and had three of the most important sec- 
tions of his bill incorporated in it as amendments, 
when the bill passed the Senate. Being Chairman 
of the Standing Committee on Schools and State 
University, Mr. H. allowed the matter to lie quiet- 
ly until near the close of the session, waiting for 
a favorable opportunity to call it up in the House. 
Accordingly, one evening, when the members felt 
humorous and had got parliamentary matters into 
some confusion, Mr. H. hinted the matter to the 
Speaker who was favorable to the bill, and prom- 
ised to aid in its passage. In due time the bill 
was called up, when, without debate, and not 
many knowing what they were voting on. the bill 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 155 

was passed by sixty-eight yeas to four nays! and 
thus a stop was put to a waste of the school money. 

Mr. Hildreth was instrumental in getting Web- 
ster's Unabridged Dictionary supplied to all the 
public schools of the State by law. He was also 
the author of the following law: "That the Bible 
shall not be excluded from any school or institu- 
tion in this State, under control of the Board of 
Education; nor shall any pupil be required to read 
it contrary to the wishes of his parent or guard- 
ian." 

The following complimentary notice of Mr. Hil- 
dreth was written by Mr. E. M. Wright, Deputy 
Secretary of State of Iowa, and published in the 
"Iowa Homestead," at Des Moines, in the month of 
October, 1864, several months after the adjourn- 
ment of the General Assembly: 

"Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, of Charles City, the 
Representative of the 54th District, composed of 
the counties of Floyd and Cerro Gordo, is a native 
of Vermont, and was born about the year 1815 or 
1816, and was raised among the rural scenes of 
Vermont, as the 'Green Mountain Boys' generally 
were, and having spent his first years in that 
healthy locality, under the best of instruction, his 
physical system and mental capacity are both well 
developed. Whatever educational advantages he 
may have enjoyed, he has been faithful and dili- 
gent in their improvement, and, as the result, he. 
has qualified himself, as regards his education and 
business qualifications, for the active duties of life. 

"In about the year 1855 he emigrated to this 
State, and being charmed with the beauty thereof, 
he has made it his home and identified his inter- 
ests with those of the State. He is editor of the 
Intelligencer, published at Charles City, which is 



156 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

noted and admired for the manly course pursued, 
and the able and impartial manner in which it is 
conducted, and also for its true loyalty on every 
page, and for its defence of our country and flag. 
It does a patriotic man good to read such loyal 
breathings. His interest is identified with that of 
the northern part of the State, and he is true to 
that interest. In 1863 he was chosen by the Re- 
publican convention as a suitable person to repre- 
sent them in the Tenth General Assembly; that 
choice was ratified at the ballot box; and the re- 
sult was that the Legislature had the benefit of 
the talents, experience and advice of one of north- 
ern Iowa's most noble sons. 

' 'Mr. Hildreth entered heartily into the work of 
the session. Energy and zeal characterized him, 
and close thought and investigation governed all 
his actions through the entire session. He was es- 
pecially interested in the memorial to Congress 
asking for a grant of land to aid in the construc- 
tion of the McGregor Railroad, and it was mainly 
through his influence and efforts that the memorial 
passed the Legislature, and a copy of it was sent 
to each member of Congress. 

' 'The people of Northern Iowa are under more 
obligations to Mr. Hildreth for that memorial, and 
consequently for the Grant of Land made thereon, 
than to any other man. The completion of that 
road will be of great advantage to Northern Iowa. 
Then will the thousands of acres of unimproved 
lands in that region be brought under cultivation, 
and beautiful farms, with fields of golden grain, 
will be found where the prairie in its native beau- 
ty now appears. Mr. Hildreth's religious faith is 
the 'Golden Rule.' " 

Hoosier. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 157 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SANITARY COMMISSION. — ASSASSINA- 
TION OF LINCOLN. 

VHILE Mr. Hildreth was subserving the inter- 
ests of his constituents in the General As- 
bly, at Des Moines. Mrs. Hildreth, his wife, was 
actively engaged at home in the work of the San- 
itary Commission — raising funds to provide medi- 
cines, clothing, reading, &c, for soldiers in the 
camps and hospitals at the South. During this 
time Rev. D. M. Reed. Unitarian clergyman, then 
of Dubuque and later of Rockford, 111., visited 
Floyd county in behalf of this work. He was an 
early friend of Mr. Hildreth in Massachusetts, and 
at this time found a welcome home with Mrs. Hil- 
dreth. At a public meeting in Charles City Mr. 
Reed spoke of the separations caused by the war, 
of depleted regiments returning home, of places 
vacant and voices silent! He paid a glowing trib- 
ute to the valor of Iowa soldiers, and to the hero- 
ism of those who had fallen in death, or were 
languishing and dying in hospitals, caused by dis- 
ease in camp or wounds in battle, and read statis- 
tics showing the benefits conferred on the disabled 
soldiers through the agency of the Sanitary Com- 



158 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

mission. Mrs. Hildreth was a member of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee, engaged in this philanthropic 
work, by whom much good was accomplished, and 
she often expressed a wish to go South and nurse 
the sick and wouuded soldiers. 

On reception of the news of the assassination of 
President Lincoln an impromptu meeting of the 
citizens of Charles City was held at the Court 
House. Mr. Hildreth drafted and presented a 
series of resolutions, appropriate to the occasion, 
which were unanimously adopted, and speeches on 
the subject were made by clergymen and others. 
Afterwards arrangements were made for funeral 
services to be held April 17th. 1865. The Court 
House and nearly all business houses and private 
residences were, draped in mourning. The at- 
tendance was immense. Mr. Hildreth was Presi- 
dent of the meeting. When the vast audience was 
called to order, he spoke of the cause and object 
of the meeting and the solemnity of the occasion 
caused by the killing of the beloved Lincoln. 
After reading the proclamation of the Governor 
he proceeded with the exercises in their proper 
order, which were appropriate and very impres- 
sive. The weather was propitious, and it was said 
that no public demonstration ever witnessed in 
Floyd county could compare with this one. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 159 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. 

AFTER selling out his printing and newspaper 
business, in the fall of 1870, Mr. Hildreth 
retired from active business. He was now in his 
55th year. Having only himself and wife to pro- 
vide for, he felt that he had acquired a compe- 
tence for his and her remaining days. He had 
erected a large new dwelling house in a pleasant 
part of the city and surrounded it with many at 
tractions. Thither he and his excellent wife re- 
paired to enjoy the closing years of their existence 
here on earth in reading their well stocked library, 
in social intercourse with neighbors and friends, 
&c, &c, all in the quietude and rest of their de- 
lightful and peaceful home. 

In the summer of 1857 Mr. Hildreth made a 
journey to the New England States on business, 
and improved the opportunity to visit the paternal 
home in Vermont, where his father and mother 
still resided. He never saw them afterwards. 
The father died the next year, 1858, of hemor- 
rhage of the bowels, caused by the rupture of 
some blood vessel internally while driving a 
spirited horse. His age was 75 years, 6 months 



160 LIJPE AND TIMES OF 

and 14 days. The mother survived her partner 
eleven years, and died of an affection of the lungs 
in 1870. at the age of 75 years. 9 months and 11 
days. 

The visit of Mr. Hildreth to his father and 
mother at the old homestead was ever remembered 
and cherished by him with the fondest recollec- 
tion. His father, who always drove a good team, 
took great pleasure in carrying him from one 
locality to another, and at parting could scarcely 
restrain the tear that unbidden would course his 
cheek, as he remarked that in all probability this 
was the last time they would see each other here 
on earth. 

Azro was the first born of his mother's children. 
He was ever her favorite. When three years old. 
and he could read in easy lessons, he was given a 
decorated plate to eat from on which were the 

words : 

"Who ran to help me when I fell, 
And kissed the place to make it well? 

"My Mother." 

This visit of 1857 was the last time that he saw 
his mother, as has been stated. Remembering the 
fondness of her son for berries and milk, she went 
out upon the old farm some distance from the 
house and gathered a quantity of red raspberries, 
and prepared for him a bowl of these ripe i fresh 
berries and cool, sweet milk. This little act of 
maternal affection could never be effaced from the 
memory of her first born and best beloved child. 
The love and affection between mother and son 
flowed on uninterruptedly through life. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 161 

Mutability and decay are surely written upon 
all things earthly. The old Hildreth homestead 
in Vermont eventually passed into other hands, 
after a lapse of a period of some fifty years. In 
the year 1872 Mr. Hildreth, with his wife, again 
visited the home of his youth — but, alas, how 
changed! No father nor mother, no brother nor 
sister was there to greet him. The parents, and 
some of the brothers and sisters, were lying buried 
in the neighboring cemetery, and other members 
of that once large and happy family were scat- 
tered to different localities in that and neighboring 
States. But it was some compensation to find, in 
the then owner and occupant of the farm, an old 
schoolmate and early friend of his boyhood. One 
of Mr. Hildreth's first acts, on arriving there, was 
to obtain fishing tackle and hasten to the trout 
brook which crossed the farm. He remembered 
the incident of his early youth, when, at the age 
of six years, he, with a pin-hook, provided by his 
mother, caught his first trout from this stream, 
and he thought to play the boy again by seeking 
the same spot and repeating the same experiment, 
only with better apparatus. But the channel of 
the stream had been changed and the deep "trout 
hole" was now dry land. Still, near by a small 
pool was discovered, and in this he dropped the 
baited hook, when a nice speckled trout rewarded 
him for the act. But this childlike sport could 
not satisfy the adult mind, and was shortly aban- 
doned. On the former occasion his little four 
year old sister was with him to carry the fish and 

21 



162 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

share in the excitement of their childish endeav- 
ors. 

Next, the old apple orchard was visited. Here 
once were apple trees named for father and moth- 
er and for each child of the family. Some of 
these favorite fruit trees still remained and were 
loaded with apples, while others had died and dis- 
appeared from their accustomed places. After 
gathering some of the choice fruit, a stroll was 
taken over other portions of the farm to see where 
woodchucks had been holed and trapped, squir- 
rels, partridges, pigeons, hawks, crows and other 
game had been captured. The large granite boul- 
der and the limestone ledge, where the lambs had 
disported in frisky glee ; the old cherry tree which 
every boy and girl in the neighborhood had 
climbed; the barn, sheds, shop, chambers, attics, 
and all other places where a child could go, (and 
where could he not go?) were successively visited. 

A thousand recollections of the days of his 
youth were constantly welling up in his mind. In 
the "east room" of the house, known as '"mother's 
room," what events had transpired! Here that 
good mother's twelve children were born. Here 
sickness, sorrow and death had many times been 
experienced. And now this holy place, consecrat- 
ed by the daily prayers of pious parents and child- 
ren, was the abode of strangers. What an im- 
pressive lesson was this! What a striking illus- 
tration of the changes wrought by time ! But the 
present owners were all so kind that regrets were 
robbed of their keener stings. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 163 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



STILL IN ACTIVE LIFE. 



JN 1862, Mr. Hildreth was one of the incorpora- 
tors of the First Congregational Society of 
Charles City, (of which church his wife was a 
faithful member,) and was for several years chair- 
man of its board of trustees. He is liberal in his 
religious views, and inclines to the sentiments of 
the Unitarian wing of the New England Congre- 
gationalists, who are a very numerous and influen- 
tial body of Christians in that region. There 
being no church of that denomination in Charles 
City, both Mr. Hildreth and his wife have been 
constant attendants and supporters of the Congre- 
gationalist church. This church was organized 
in 1858. Mrs. Hildreth with four other ladies and 
three gentlemen comprised the entire membership 
at the time of its organization. 

In the spring of 1871 the First National Bank of 
Charles City was organized. In this enterprise 
Mr. Hildreth took an active part. From the be- 
ginning he was one of its directors and part of the 
time vice-president. 

In August, 1873, the Floyd County Savings 
Bank, at Charles City, was incorporated. In this 



164 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

institution Mr. Hildreth was a stockholder, and at 
the first meeting of its board of directors he was 
elected its president. This institution was quite 
popular for a number of years, but owing" to the 
bad management and defalcation of F. A. Roziene, 
its treasurer and general manager, in 1887 the 
Savings Bank was closed. Its affairs were placed 
in the hands of a receiver who wound up the insti- 
tution at a serious loss to the stockholders. 

For many years Mr. Hildreth was a member of 
the School Board of Charles City and much of the 
time its President. His well-known educational 
tastes and proclivities, as well as business tact, 
admirably fitted him for that position. He was 
never an office seeker, and it is said that he was 
never known to ask a man for his vote. His idea 
of propriety in such matters was, that the office 
should seek the man and not the man the office. 
As a business man he had the confidence of all 
who knew him, and no one could gainsay his in- 
tegrity. 

The published "History and Catalogue" of the 
Charles City Free Public Library show that Mr. 
Hildreth took an active interest in the work of 
placing useful and instructive reading in the hands 
of the citizens, both old and young. Besides lib- 
eral donations of money, he at different times con- 
tributed a large number of books for the library. 
When, under the law of the State, the city corpor- 
ation took charge of the institution, Mr. Hildreth 
was elected as one of the directors and was con- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 165 

tinued in that office several years. The library is 
now a prosperous and permanent institution, and 
is largely patronized by the people of Chrrles City. 
In 1876 Mr. Hildreth and his ''better half ' made 
a journey Eastward, a description of which he 
subsequently wrote out and sent to his brother in 
Massachusetts. It may be found in the next chap- 
ter. 



166 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



A CENTENNIAL JOURNEY. 



BROTHER Albert:— On the first of Septem- 
ber, 1876, wife and I left our pleasant home 
in Charles City, Iowa, on a journey to the New 
England States. We took passage at Charles City 
over the Illinois Central Railroad to Dubuque, 
where we stopped over night, and the next day 
proceeded on our journey as far as Rockford, Illi- 
nois. Here we spent two days in visiting rela- 
tives and friends and then went to Chicago. In 
Chicago we received a cordial welcome from 
friends whom we visited a day or two. There we 
took passage on board the train of the Pittsburg 
and Fort Wayne and Pennsylvania Central Rail- 
roads for Philadelphia via Washington City. The 
car we occupied was the hotel palace car Marlbo- 
rough, the easiest, smoothest running car we ever 
rode in. Soon after taking our seats in this car 
with the other passengers, a gentleman came in to 
take his seat, with his company, apparently under 
some excitement. Owing to the great rush of 
travel he had found it difficult to procure his pas- 
sage tickets, get his baggage checked and make 
other needed arrangements for the journey for 
himself and party. 'Why." said he, "I have trav- 
eled all over the world and I never found so much 
trouble to get started on a journey as I have had 
here in Chicago. It is the worst place I ever saw. 
I have had more trouble here than it takes to raise 
a family." 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 167 

This talk raised a laugh among the passengers, 
broke the reserve and put us all in good humor 
with each other. Our journey was a delightful 
one. Not only was the car exceedingly comforta- 
ble, but the meals served on board were superb. 
The quality of the food and the cooking were 
equal to that of the very best hotels, while the at- 
tendance was all that could be desired. The gen- 
eral appearance of the country in northern Ohio, 
through which we passed, was very fine and far 
superior that of the southern portion of the State 
where we had previously been. 

The early settlers of northern Ohio were from 
New England and New York. We everywhere 
along our route remarked the thrifty condition of 
the people — the neat and tidy buildings — fine or- 
chards of fruit, and well cultivated fields. Ap- 
proaching Pittsburg these attractions increased in 
beauty. 

Pittsburg has a romantic and pleasant location; 
and as to coal smoke and dust, it can hardly be 
said to equal Cincinnati. The surrounding coun- 
try produces some of the finest fruit to be found 
in the United States. Our train stopped here 
nearly an hour for dinner; but as we had already 
finished our repast on board the hotel car, we im- 
proved the time in strolling about the city, and 
supplying ourselves with some of the excellent 
fruit which the Pittsburg market afforded, such as 
grapes, pears, peaches, plums, &c, which we took 
along with us. 

Our train from Chicago consisted of seven pal- 
ace cars, all well filled with passengers,, and five 
common passenger cars equally well filled. Di- 
rectly behind us was another train of ten passen- 
ger cars running on the same time — so great was 
the travel during this Centennial season. Pitts- 
burg being a great railroad centre, a great many 
trains met there for dinner, and of course consid- 
erable time was consumed before their departure. 
Still, the accommodations were ample for all. 



168 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

During the afternoon we made the journey from 
Pittsburg" to Altoona, passing up the Conemaugh 
valley and crossing the Alleghany mountains. 
The beauty and sublimity of the scenery along 
this route were beyond our powers of description. 
We passed through several tunnels on the way 
and finally reached Cresson Springs on the sum- 
mit of the Alleghanys, a delightful resort for 
invalids and summer tourists. 

Oh! what a glorious panorama of natural scene- 
ry was here spread out before us! Soon we be- 
gan to descend the eastern slope of the mountains. 
Turning the famous "horse shoe bend," passen- 
gers in the forward cars could almost converse 
with those in the rear cars of the same train! 

At Altoona we left the train and put up at the 
great railway hotel there for the night. In every 
respect this may be called a first-class house. 
Altoona is romantically situated on the eastern 
declivity of the Alleghany mountains, and has 
been built up and sustained by the great enter- 
prise and enormous business of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company. Here the Company have their 
great iron founderies, machine shops, car facto- 
ries, &c. , &c. The rails for their roads are here 
manufactured from the ore dug from their own 
mines, and here are manufactured all their engines 
and other rolling stock. Thus they give employ- 
ment to thousands of workingmen, laborers, arti- 
sans, &c, in all their various departments of man- 
ufacture. 

After a refreshing sleep and a breakfast that 
should tickle the palate of the daintiest epicure, 
we left Altoona on the train for Harrisburg and 
Washington. Our route lay along the valley of 
the lovely Juniata and still more lovely Susque- 
hanna rivers. 

Harrisburg, the capital of the great State of 
Pennsylvania, has a delightful location, being 
built upon both sides of the Susquehanna and sur- 
rounded with rich and well cultivated farms. It 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 169 

has many beautiful and costly dwelling houses 
and several attractive public edifices, the most 
prominent of which is the capitol building. 

After dinner at Harrisburg we proceeded on our 
journey to Washington, arriving there just at 
dark. A part of our route was along the valley of 
the Susquehanna. The negro huts, with any num- 
ber of darkeys, adults and pickaninnies, loitering 
around them, and wasting their time in indolence, 
were remarked by the passengers who were un- 
used to such scenes. Also the milk-houses attract- 
ed attention. These were usually located over or 
near some spring of water or small creek, not far 
away from the dwelling house. 

On reaching Baltimore but a short stop was 
made when, passing through a tunnel, in the sub- 
urbs of the city, we were again rapidly journeying 
towards Washington. 

At Harrisburg we made the acquaintance of 
Mr. Pulsifer, his wife and daughter, of Chicago, 
formerly of Marblehead, Mass., — very estimable 
people. They continued in our company for many 
days, taking lodgings at the same hotels with us. 
At Washington we put up at the Ebbitt House, our 
former stopping place, with which our traveling 
companions expressed themselves as greatly 
pleased, the accommodations being superior in 
every respect. 

While in Washington we visited the various 
Government buildings — the White House, Treas- 
ury Building, Department of the Interior and Pat- 
ent Office Building, the General Post Office Build- 
ing, Smithsonian Institute, the Navy Yard, Capi- 
tol, &c &c. 

After "doing'' Washington, our next objective 
point was Philadelphia, and the Centennial Expo- 
sition. In Philadelphia, notwithstanding the enor- 
mous influx of visitors, we were so fortunate as to 
find excellent lodgings at 1731 Girard Avenue, a 
genteel boarding house kept by Mrs. Miller. Or- 
dering a landaulet and driver we spent a day in 



170 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

making a tour of the city — visiting the Zoological 
Gardens, Fairmount Waterworks the Wissahickon 
and Schuylkill rivers, Girard College, Independ- 
ence Hall and other places of note. We were 
eleven days in Philadelphia, and the most of this 
time was spent upon the grounds of the Centen- 
nial Exhibition. The history and character of 
this Exhibition are as familiar to every one as 
household words, therefore it would be a work of 
supererogation for me to attempt a description. 
Suffice it to say : The American Centennial Exhi- 
bition was not only vastly instructive, but its ben- 
efits to the American people and the world at large 
were beyond all computation. While we were 
there the attendance was about one hundred thou- 
sand people each day. The natural and artificial 
products of the whole world were there presented 
— also, were to be seen there the people of every 
clime. The good order and decorum that were 
observed on every hand were themes of universal 
praise. No drunkenness, no profanity, no uncivil 
treatment were noticed in any quarter, but a 1, 
both strangers and citizens, seemed to be placed 
upon their good behaviour, determined that every 
one should be joyous and happy. 

Leaving Philadelphia, we next visited Long 
Branch, the celebrated watering place on the At- 
lantic coast, where President Grant was accus- 
tomed to spend the summer season with his family. 
While there the President came to the hotel where 
we were stopping, so that all the guests there had 
a fine opportunity for seeing him. 

We next visited New York, stopping at that 
popular hostelry the Astor House. After making 
the rounds of the city, visiting Central Park, 
Greenwood Cemetery, and many other places of 
note, our next thought was of a voyage up the 
Hudson river by daylight. I believe that in all 
America there is no scenery of more enchanting 
beauty than the valley of this magnificent river 
presents. Landing at Albany we spent the night 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 171 

there and next morning- took the train of the Bos- 
ton and Albany' railroad for Boston. Here we 
found many relatives and friends, and spent sever- 
al days most happily with them. We next spent 
a few days with friends in Lowell, Mass. 

Lowell was the home of my earlier days. Here, 
iu the spring- of 1839, I first established myself in 
business by engaging in the work of editing and 
printing a newspaper called the '"Literary Souve- 
nir." How vividly were recalled to mind the 
many scenes and incidents of former days! The 
progress and improvement of the city since that 
time were great; still, very many of the old land- 
marks remained. Here I found my brother, Capt. 
Albert G. Hildreth, a veteran of the late war, and 
my sister, Mary C. McCoy, both married and hav- 
ing families of children around them, and all in 
comfortable circumstances. 

From Lowell we proceeded to Walpole, N. H., 
where wife had an uncle, George Joslin, whom 
and his family we visited. From there we went 
to Rockingham, Vt.. and visited the family of 
Lewis Albee, the lady being a cousin of my wife. 
Here wife desired to rest a few days from the 
fatigues of journeying. Leaving her here with 
this most estimable cousin, I improved the oppor- 
tunity to visit the old paternal home, my birth- 
place in Chelsea, Vt. 

In the village of Chelsea I visited the old and 
new cemeteries, where the inscriptions upon the 
headstones and monuments reminded me of the 
fleetness of time and the certainty of death, and 
how transitory are all things earthly. Tempus 
fugit seemed to be written all around me. Many, 
many of the older citizens of that town, the ac- 
quaintances, friends, school-mates of my youth, 
were there, sleeping the sleep that knows no wak- 
ing. In the family lot of the Hildreths, in the old 
burying ground, repose the remains of my grand- 
mother Hildreth, my father and my mother, my 
brother George W.. my sisters, Lucy T., Lovinia 



172 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

G., and two infant brothers. Suitable headstones 
were erected at the graves of all, and an iron 
chain supported by granite posts surrounded 
them. This simple enclosure of the family lot 
was the work of my dear father. What a precious 
opportunity was this to me, once more to visit this 
sacred ground and again drop a tear over the 
graves of my kindred! 

"They sleep ! and the dimmed eyes will never 
Unclose from their long dreamless rest ; 
They are dead ! and the pale hands forever 
Are clasped on the still, pulseless breast." 

Upon the headstone of my father was engraved 
the words: -'An honest man and a Christian. " 
More truthful words were never recorded of the 
dead. But it was the memory of my mother that 
most deeply affected me. I was her first born. 
Did she not teach me the most that I had learned 
in early childhood? Had she not watched by me 
in sickness, and been my companion in my youth- 
ful sports? Was it not mother who taught my in- 
fant lips to say: 

"Now I lay me down to sleep?" 

Twelve children were born to her. What a 
world of care, sickness and sorrow, pain and an- 
guish, as well as bliss and love, were hers! Now 
mother rests from her labor. She sleeps, and how 
peacefully! Oh, she was so good! 

At the hotel in Chelsea, where I stopped, old 
friends and companions of earlier days, who yet 
survived, having heard of my presence, came in, 
one after another, to meet me and converse upon 
the themes of long ago. Some had so changed in 
appearance that I could not recall their names. 
Others — indeed all — as well as myself showed the 
marks of age. Many and happy were the greet- 
ings I received. These cordial warm-hearted wel- 
comes from old friends will ever be cherished with 
the fondest recollection. 

The old homestead, or Hildreth farm, is situat- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 173 

ed three miles from the village. Thither I was 
conveyed by one of my old boyhood playmates 
who refused any compensation therefor, saying: 
' 'Why yon and I have hunted squirrels and wood- 
chucks many a day, all over that old farm." And 
the recollection of those early days seemed to be 
ample compensation for any favor he could do me 
now. 

The old home had passed from the possession 
of any of the Hildreths, but it was a pleasure to 
find in the owner one of my early schoolmates. 
He and his family gave me a hearty welcome. I 
was soon running about over the farm, looking at 
the garden, the orchard, the brooks and meadows, 
and cornfields, and potato patches, the barns, the 
sheds, the workshop, the chamber, and cellar, and 
all the rooms of the house. These had undergone 
little or no change; but the occupants, all were 
different! No father's welcome; no mother's kiss; 
no warm clasp of the hand by brother or sister; 
all these had departed — some to other towns and 
other States — some to that better world where 
parting is unknown. After tarrying here for a 
day, although with the kindest of friends, I took 
my departure, sick at heart and under a cloud of 
sadness which I can never forget. 

Prom Chelsea I went to the home of my sister, 
Mrs. Harriet N. Porter, in Corinth, Vt. After a 
happy visit with her of one day I went to the 
home of Mrs. Almira M. Wason, some three miles 
from Mrs. Porter's. Almira was my elder sister, 
two years younger than myself, the ever constant 
playmate and companion of my youth. At both 
homes I was treated with sisterly affection. 

From Corinth I went to South Newbury, Vt. 
Here I found the widow of my brother Daniel, and 
her children; two grown up daughters and a 
younger son. My brother had died of a cancer a 
short time previous, and the family mourned his 
death with keen anguish. Time alone can assuage 
such grief. After tarrying here a day, I took the 



174 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

train on my return to Rockingham, where I met 
my wife the same evening, and found her well 
rested from the fatigue of journeying and much 
improved in health and strength. 

During these journeyings among the hills and 
dales of Vermont the foliage of the forests was 
putting on its most beautiful colors. Often as I 
would gain the top of some eminence, where the 
eye could take in large tracts of woodland, the 
scene presented to view was most enchanting. 
There had been no frost to kill the leaves. But 
there was a general ripening of the summer foli- 
age. Such gorgeous beauty of forest leaves, such 
a blending of colors of every kind are unknown to 
the western States. Having been born and raised 
among the Green Mountians, of course I had wit- 
nessed these autumnal forest changes many times 
before, but never till now had they seemed so 
beautiful. 

Bidding farewell to our kind Rockingham 
friends, we took the train on our homeward jour- 
ney. Stopping off at Saratoga, we there spent a 
few days in testing the medicinal properties of the 
several mineral springs and then proceeded to 
Niagara Falls. One, whose organ of sublimity is 
well developed, cannot tire of viewing this won- 
derful cataract. Here we engaged a carriage and 
driver, and after a drive about the town, crossed 
on the new suspension bridge to the Canada side 
of the river. This bridge seemed like a frail web 
of gossamer, and crossing, as it does, directly be- 
low and in full view of the Falls, and amid their 
awful thunderings, a thrill of sublime excitement 
was experienced which pen cannot describe. 
However the bridge was held to be perfectly safe, 
and is indeed a great convenience to the wonder- 
loving public — the view from it is so grand and 
awe-inspiring. 

Tourists often complain bitterly of the frauds 
and impositions practised upon them in and around 
Niagara, but we fortunately escaped, and, on the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 175 

contrary, found everything pleasant and satisfac- 
tory. Our hotel and our traveling companions 
were all of the very best. 

From Niagara our next objective point was Chi- 
cago. Taking a palace car over the Lake Shore 
and Michigan Southern Railroad at noon, we en- 
joyed a comfortable night's rest, and the next 
morning found ourselves in that "Queen City of 
the West." Phoenix like, Chicago had just risen 
from her ashes, and at this time was more glori- 
ous and attractive than ever before. In this city 
we tarried a few days, visiting relatives and 
friends, and viewing the costly and remarkably 
beautiful edifices erected since the great fire for 
the accommodation of all the varied requirements 
of trade and commerce; the stores, warehouses, 
churches, theatres, dwelling houses, factories, 
stock-yards, public parks, &c, &c. 

Having completed our visit in Chicago, we took 
passage on board the train of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railroad, at five o'clock. 
P. M., after an absence from home of about two 
months, and next day, at two o'clock, P. M. . found 
ourselves once more safely ensconced in our own 
domicile in Charles City, Iowa, happy to be at 
home again ; happy to have a comfortable home to 
call our own; happy in the recollection of a thou- 
sand pleasant incidents connected with our jour- 
ney; and happy that no accidents and nothing of 
an unpleasant nature had occurred to mar its en- 
joyment. 



176 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 

IN 1860 Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth took an active 
interest in the work of instituting a lodge of 
Good Templars, and were charter members of the 
first lodge of that kind in Charles City. The 
membership comprised the leading gentlemen and 
ladies of the place, numbering some hundreds, 
and the influence it exerted upon the community 
was very salutary. The following allusion to this 
institution is copied from the "History of Floyd 

County." published in 1882: 

The Good Templars took the lead in celebrating 
upon the 4th of July. 1860, in Charles City. The 
day was beautiful and the attendance large. Ear- 
ly in the morning the stars and stripes were float- 
ing from many a flag- staff and edifice, and at the 
appointed hour the marshals, mounted on beauti- 
fully caparisoned horses, formed a procession in 
the following order: Music; citizens generally, 
both ladies and gentlemen; Worthy Master and 
Worthy Deputy Master; male initiates; female in- 
itiates; banner; male degree members; Officers of 
the Lodge; Officers of the Grand Lodge; Vice 
Presidents of the Day; Reader and Chaplain; Pres- 
ident and Orator. The procession was a long one. 
and presented a gay and lively appearance. A 
large number of banners were borne in the pro- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 177 

cession, several of which were rich and elegant, 
and had various appropriate mottoes and devices. 
A procession so attractive and imposing had never 
before been seen in Floyd county, possibly in the 
State. 

On arriving at the grove, a scene of beauty and 
enchantment burst upon the vision; due in most 
part to the skill of woman's fairy hand. The 
grounds were arranged in the order of a lodge 
room, and were well furnished and ornamented. 
At this place the order of exercises were — Martial 
music; prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. A. D. Bush; 
singing by the entire audience, the opening ode of 
the Good Templars, * 'Friends of Temperance, wel- 
come here," to the tune "Watchman, tell us of the 
night;" reading of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, by James Jackson; singing the national 
hymn, "America," by the entire audience; oration 
by John G. Patterson; martial music; temperance 
address by J. Q. Detwiler; and succeeding these 
exercises, A. B. F. Hildreth, who had been ap- 
pointed Toast Master, announced the following 
sentiments, each of which was in turn responded 
to by some one of the audience: 

1. The Day we Celebrate: Glorious in the past, 
honored in the present, may its lustre brighten in 
the future. 

2. The Memory of our Revolutionary Fathers: Let 
it be embalmed in the hearts of posterity. 

3. Washington: "God caused him to be child- 
less that a nation might call him father." 

4. The Presidency of the United States: The no- 
blest office in the world; its occupant should be 
one of the noblest of men. 

5. The Order of Good Templars: An invading 
"cold water army," at whose command the hosts 
of King Alcohol ever surrender at discretion. 

6. The Ladies: Gentle, patient, affectionate, 
and ever zealous in a good cause; without them 
our men would be savages and our prairies deserts. 

23 



178 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

7. The Musicians: Without their harmonious 
strains the celebration could not go on. 

8. Our Common Schools: Caskets containing" the 
jewels of our country; we expect the teachers, as 
artisans, will see that they are rightly set. 

9. The Farmer: One of nature's noblemen. 

10. The Clergy: Patient defenders of the Cross; 
may their reward be ' 'manifold more in this pres- 
ent time, and in the world to come life everlast- 
ing"." 

11. St. Charles Lodge, No. 62, L 0. of G. T: A 
moral reformer whose services are invaluable. 

12. The Benevolent Societies of the Day: Their 
"secrecy" is the tie that unites their members in 
the work of social reform. 

13. Manual Labor: The stepping stone to vir- 
tue, health, happiness and independence. 

14. Ioiva, the Home of our Adoption: May she, 
like Cornelia, point to her sons and say, "These 
are my jewels." 

15. The Officers of the Day: Well have they dis- 
charged their duties, and the thanks of the audi- 
ence are theirs. 

After listening to martial music, the closing" ode 
of the Order was sung, — "Heavenly Father, give 
thy blessing" — to the air, "Sicilian Hymn. " 

The marshals then formed a procession of nearly 
all who were upon the ground and conducted them 
to the lodge hall, whence the people dispersed for 
dinner. No accident or blunder occurred to mar 
the perfection of the day, and every one went 
home happy. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 179 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



THE CITY OF THE DEAD. 



^^ R. Hildreth was for several years President 
/ V °f the Riverside Cemetery Association of 
Charles City. In June, 1882, the "Ladies Ceme- 
tery Improvement Association" was incorporated, 
and Mr. Hildreth was made chairman of their ex- 
ecutive committee. The two corporations, acting 
in conjunction, raised several thousand dollars 
and expended the same in laying out lots, enlarg- 
ing and beautifying the grounds and making need- 
ed improvements. It was the verdict of all visit- 
ors that this cemetery was kept in better condition 
and was more beautiful than any other "city of 
the dead" seen in the State. In this cemetery lie 
buried the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth's 
little daughter, and also the remains of Mrs. Hil- 
dreth's father and mother. Their lot is enclosed 
with an expensive iron railing, within which are 
two monuments and appropriate headstones — one 
of Italian marble representing the Hildreth fami- 
ly; and the other for Mr. and Mrs. Knight, made 
of granite from the quarries at Barre, Vermont. 



180 LIFE AND TIMES OP 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

FLOYD COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

nR. Hildreth was the instigator and prime 
mover in the work of organizing the Floyd 
County Agricultural Society. At his solicitation 
a meeting of citizens of the several towns in the 
county was held in Charles City in February, 1859. 
Articles of incorporation were adopted and filed 
for record, and officers chosen consisting of a 
President, Vice Presidents, (one from each town- 
ship, ) and Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Hildreth 
took the office of Secretary, and upon him de- 
volved the larger portion of the work preparatory 
to holding a Fair. 

The Society met at the Secretary's office in 
June, when a committee of arrangements was ap- 
pointed, also officers of the day and awarding 
committees. The time for the Fair was agreed 
upon, to be on the 5th and 6th of October, and 
Charles City the place. The people of Charles 
City subscribed 1250.00 towards defraying ex- 
penses in making preparations for the Fair. Mr. 
Hildreth prepared the entire premium list, which 
was adopted with scarcely an alteration. The 
weather was favorable and all went on smoothly. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 181 

The people of the whole county entered heartily 
into the enterprise. The Secretary was kept busy 
until ten o'clock of the second day in receiving 
and recording the entries which numbered nearly 
five hundred: Field crops, 27; vegetables and 
fruits, 85; orcharding, 2; farming implements, 6 
horses, 36; cattle, 34; sheep, 6; swine, 4; fowls. 9 
dairy, 8; sugar and honey, 7; mechanic arts, 21 
household manufactures, 74: miscellaneous, 95 
stoves and tin ware, 1; penmanship, 1; discretion- 
ary, 3; female equestrianship, 6; and some others. 

When the Secretary had closed the entries, 
the marshals formed a procession of the officers 
and members of the society and citizens generally. 
The Mechanic's Brass Band of Mitchell county 
had been engaged, which led the procession. 
They marched through the principal streets of 
Charles City and thence to the platform beneath 
the flag-staff upon the fair grounds. 

After music by the band and an opening prayer, 
by request of the President, Mr. Hildreth ad- 
dressed the assembled multitude, giving some ac- 
count of the work that had been done and the 
benefits to be derived therefrom, and closed by 
announcing that the ''First Annual Fair of the 
Floyd County Agricultural Society was now for- 
mally opened." He then called up the chairmen 
of each of the awarding committees and delivered 
to them pass books, in which to record their 
awards, with the request that they call together 
their respective committees, make their awards 
and return them to him at the stand promptly at 



182 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

four o'clock, when the awards of premiums would 
by him be declared. All of which was fulfilled to 
the letter. 

Moses Conger delivered the oration in the after- 
noon, and other addresses by different speakers 
from abroad were delivered — the exercises being 
interspersed by vocal and instrumental music. 

The number of people attending this fair was 
estimated at 2, 500, and the exhibit surpassed all 
expectations of this newly settled county. Mrs. 
Hildreth, with certain other ladies, rendered effi- 
cient aid in the art department in arranging and 
displaying the exhibits there, many of which were 
very beautiful and attractive. In the department 
of garden vegetables and farm productions the 
exhibits were the surprise of all beholders. The 
new settlers especially were astonished at the 
wonderful growths and productions of the virgin 
soil of Floyd Couuty. The speed of horses was 
tested; ladies' equestrianship witnessed on the 
trotting course; awards of premiums declared; and 
all passed off to the general satisfaction of all 
present. 

The receipts of money more than covered all 
expenses. The premiums awarded were paid in 
full, and some fifty dollars were left in the treas- 
ury. Skeptics concerning the success of the un- 
dertaking were completely silenced. Farmers' 
crops that season turned out well. Wheat yielded 
thirty bushels to the acre. Corn grew to a height 
of twelve feet and yielded sixty to eighty bushels 
per acre. The winter following was one of unu- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 183 

sual business prosperity, and it was deemed advis- 
able to organize a 

FARMERS' CLUB. 

Agreeably to notice in the Intelligencer a number 
of gentlemen and ladies assembled at the resi- 
dence of Milo Gilbert in Charles City, on the eve- 
ning of Dec. 1st, 1860, for the purpose of organizing 
what was popularly termed a "Farmers' Club." 
A. B. F. Hildreth presented a constitution for a 
permanent organization, which was adopted. A 
number of ladies and gentlemen signed the consti- 
tution and officers were appointed. It was decided 
that the topic for discussion at the next meeting 
should be, "The Winter Care of Stock." This 
and other meetings were subsequently held, at 
which appropriate subjects were discussed and 
much useful information elicited. 



184 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



GRADUATION EXERCISES. 



,N the 23d of June, 1880, the public schools of 
Charles City were closed for the summer va- 
cation. Six young ladies, who had completed the 
course of study in the high school, graduated at 
this time. The following report of the closing ex- 
ercises is taken from the Intelligencer: 

Long before the hour for the exercises to begin, 
a large crowd had assembled in and about the 
Baptist Church, and every seat in the large build- 
ing was filled. Many were compelled to leave, 
being unable to gain admission. The exercises 
opened with music by a quartette of singers, Miss 
Howard at the organ. This, as well as the rest of 
the music of the evening was fine, and very pleas- 
ing to the audience. After prayer by Rev. Dr. 
Clute of the Congregational church, and a duet, 
came the first essay, "I know and I don't know," 
by Miriam Bumgardner. We do not propose to 
take up individual essays, and praise them at the 
expense of others. All were good, showing care- 
ful school training, earnest thought, and fine com- 
mand of language. 

Prof. Yocum, the principal, has reason to be 
proud of his class of 1880. The other essays were, 
"Man," by Minnie V. Patterson; "Cobwebs." by 
Estelle L. Balch; "Imagination.," by Mildred I. 
Park; "When my ship comes in," by Rosa M. 
Patterson; "Inclined Planes" and Valedictory, by 
Belle C. Judd. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 185 

After singing the class song, Prof. Yocum, ad- 
dressing the School Board, stated that the candi- 
dates for graduation had completed their course 
of study, had passed a satisfactory examination, 
and should now receive the customary diplomas. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, President of the Board 
of Directors, in presenting the diplomas, spoke as 
follows : 

Students of the Graduating Glass: — The pleasant 
duty devolves upon me, in behalf of the Directors, 
in behalf of your teachers, and in behalf of your 
relatives and friends, to * congratulate you upon 
your very successful completion of the course of 
study of our public schools. The close applica- 
tion, the industry, the energy, the perseverance 
and thoroughness, which you have manifested, are 
indeed commendable. 

It is to be lamented that so many of your fellow 
students, who began the course of study when you 
did. should fail to complete the course. This lack 
of thoroughness is the bane of the American peo- 
ple. We are too unstable, too superficial, in our 
undertakings. This criticism is applicable to men 
and women in all the avocations of life; to the 
farmer, the mechanic, the professional man, the 
school-teacher and others. They are unwilling to 
give the time and make the application necessary 
to acquire that thorough knowledge of their busi- 
ness which shall command success. 

When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, 
the first business that engaged their attention was 
the founding of schools and churches; a provision 
for the moral, religious and mental training of the 
young being considered of paramount importance. 
When oppression came from the mother country a 
spirit of revolution was engendered, and those 
revolutionary fathers planted with their hands and 
watered with their blood that tree of liberty be- 
neath whose blissful shades we can bask at the 
present day. 

But in those early days a colony of a different 

24 



186 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

character was located at Jamestown. Many of its 
members were dissolute young men from the city 
of London; high-born, proud, imperious, haughty, 
and domineering. Scorning labor, and fondly be- 
lieving that they were born to rule, they eagerly 
purchased the first cargo of slaves that were land- 
ed upon their shores. Churches and schools with 
them were of secondary consideration. 

Mason & Dixon's line separated these two civil- 
zations, and 

"Westward the course of empire took its way." 

For more than two hundred years the peculiar in- 
fluences of these two colonies were seen and felt 
as they progressed in their onward march toward 
the setting sun. Finally they came in collision on 
the plains of Kansas, and, as we all know, the 
power of the schools and churches" and free labor, 
triumphed over slavery and its barbarisms. 

Thus will it ever be. An educated, intelligent, 
industrious, moral and religious people cannot be 
enslaved nor will they tolerate slavery in their 
midst. 

The perpetuity of our free institutions depends 
upon the intelligence and virtue of the people. 
The citizens of Iowa, knowing this, cheerfully tax 
themselves for the support of free schools. If 
they do not do this, they know that they will be 
doubly taxed for the punishment of crime; the 
payment of courts, attorneys, witnesses and juries; 
the support of paupers and almshouses, criminals 
and prisons. With proper education the citizen 
is self-sustaining, useful and valuable. With ig- 
norance and idleness he is liable to become a vag- 
abond and a criminal. 

My young friends you are about to go out into 
the world. Its beauties, its attractions, its enjoy- 
ments and pleasures are all before you. Your 
mental, moral and religious culture will enable 
you to partake of them in wisdom and moderation. 
Should adversity come, as it may come upon us 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 187 

all, you will be prepared to meet it with fortitude 
and resignation. 

I can add in behalf of the Board of Directors, 
your teachers, friends and acquaintances, that our 
best wishes will attend you. In proof of this I 
present you these diplomas. Take them, cherish 
them, as the evidence of what you have achieved, 
and on suitable occasions exhibit them for the 
gratification of your friends. 

The exercises closed with "Stars of Descending 
Night,' ' sung by the quartette first named. 



188 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XL. 



COMMENCEMENT, AGAIN. 



jN June 17th, 1881, the graduating -class of the 
Charles City High School consisted of fifteen 
students, ten young ladies and five young gentle- 
men, the largest number ever graduated from the 
school at any one time. The exercises were held 
in the Baptist church, which was beautifully dec- 
orated with flowers and evergreens. Long before 
the hour set for the opening the house was crowd- 
ed with an intelligent and interested audience, and 
hundreds were unable to gain admission. The 
orations and essays, by the graduates, were far 
above the average on such occasions. All acquit- 
ted themselves creditably, and their friends had 
good reason to be proud of them. The music on 
the occasion was appropriate aud excellent. The 
proceedings were fully reported for the Intelligen- 
cer by Col. E. B. Dyke, the editor, and from that 
paper is quoted the following: 

The student always looks forward to commence- 
ment day with mingled feelings of pleasure and 
pain; pleasure, that he is about to put the golden 
clasp on another volume of life's history; pain, 
that dear ties are soon to be sundered and joyous 
associations become things of the past. He is 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 189 

about to stand on the threshold of manhood, the 
''commencement" of his life. ''What will that life 
be?" is the question that comes most vividly be- 
fore his mind. The answer is down in the misty 
future. Time, pausing a moment on the wing, has 
turned his glass, and he sees in the shifting sands 
a type of that farther interval of rest and peace, 
when his sun shall sink down in evening shadows. 
Here, the school class of 1881 has finished, and 
they will soon pass on to other fields, on which 
may "Heaven shower choicest blessings." 

The training in our schools is excellent, and the 
efforts of a fine corps of teachers are warmly aided 
by the Board of Education. At 8 o'clock Prof. 
Yocum called the audience to order and announced 
the program in its proper order. After the vale- 
dictory, the solo, "Schubert's Serenade," was 
beautifully rendered, when the Professor, in well 
chosen words, introduced the class to the Board 
of Directors. He stated that the examination had 
been careful and thorough, and that the class had 
acquitted themselves in an unusually creditable 
manner. More than this, their deportment had 
been such as to command the respect and confi- 
dence of teachers and friends. The graduates 
now should receive their diplomas. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, President of the Board 
of Directors, responded as follows: 

Graduating Students: It is my privilege to con- 
gratulate you upon your very successful comple- 
tion of the course of study in the public schools of 
Charles City. Your industry, energy, persever- 
ance and close application to study, are indeed 
commendable and worthy of the highest praise. 
The manner in which you have acquitted your- 
selves is not only a credit to you, but an honor to 
your teachers. It speaks well for their efficiency 
and thoroughness. I pronounce these words of 
commendation in behalf of the Board of Directors, 
and in behalf of your parents and friends. 



190 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

My young friends: you have made a good be- 
ginning — you have started well in life. This event 
marks an epoch in your history. You are now 
about to take your positions as members of soci- 
ety. Your mental and moral training was to pre- 
pare you for citizenship — to fit and qualify you 
for the every day. active duties of life. The ob- 
ject which the people of Iowa have in establishing 
and supporting free public schools is that the 
youth may become self-sustaining, and therefore 
good and valued citizens; otherwise, if permitted 
to grow up in ignorance and idleness, there is 
danger that they may become a public charge and 
have to be supported as paupers and criminals. 

From this time forward a new life is before you 
— you are to engage in business, either for your- 
selves or for others. In whatever positions you 
may find yourselves placed let the strictest integ- 
rity govern all your conduct. Be honest, punctu- 
al, faithful and true. If you are in the employ- 
ment of another, make his interests your interests. 
He will expect not only capability, but industry, 
fidelity and close application to business. Your 
word, your promise, should be as good as your 
bond. Life is real, life is earnest. As Longfel- 
low has it: 

"Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime. 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time." 

To my fellow citizens of Charles City: you who 
are taxed to support free schools in your midst: 
permit me to say that, here in Iowa, you have a 
system of education scarcely inferior to that of 
any other State in the Union. It is almost a self- 
propelling system. It builds school-houses, it 
employs teachers, it establishes schools, in every 
town and neighborhood throughout the State. 
Here it places the child in the primary school of 
little ones, takes him through all the several 
grades until it graduates him, as you see to-day, 
from the high school, a good English scholar. Then, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 191 

if he pleases, it places him in the University, 
gives him a scientific and classical course, and 
graduates him with the highest educational hon- 
ors. All this is free to the scholars of both sexes. 
The young ladies of Iowa are admitted to the Uni- 
versity and to the Agricultural College upon equal 
terms and privileges in all respects with young 
men. The co-education of the sexes in this State 
is now a legally established fact, and so popular 
has it become that no politician dare lay his vandal 
hand upon this provision of our school laws with a 
view to its repeal. 

To woman is committed the care and training of 
youth. How important that she should be edu- 
cated! The great Napoleon, being asked what is 
the first need of France, answered. • -educated 
mothers. ,, The celebrated Sheridan once sought 
to establish in England a general system of Fe- 
male Education. In his efforts to enlist the Queen 
in behalf of his undertaking he said: "Women 
govern us, let us strive to render them perfect.' 1 

My fellow citizens: allow me to urge you to 
continue as you have begun — encourage, support 
and perfect your free public schools. The salva- 
tion of this Republic, with all her glorious institu- 
tions of charity and learning, depends upon the 
education and intelligence of the great mass of the 
people. The evils we have endured in the past — 
the recent war of the rebellion, costing us so much 
blood and treasure — were the direct results of ig- 
norance, prejudice and superstition. I rejoice 
that Congress is seeking to remedy this difficulty 
by extending the blessings of education to the 
illiterate whites and blacks of the Southern States. 

One thing is lacking. We need to have our ed- 
ucational laws amended so as to provide for com- 
pulsory education as well as compulsory taxation. 
The object sought is but partially attained unless 
the child is required to attend school an<J receive 
the benefit of that money which the law compels 
you to pay for his education. 



192 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

My graduating friends: you have completed the 
course of study assigned you here, but your edu- 
cation is not complete, nor will it be till the end of 
life. The world is all before you, with its vicissi- 
tudes, its anxieties; with its attractions, its enjoy- 
ment, its happiness. Your cultured minds, your 
moral training, will enable you all the better to 
endure reverses and to enjoy prosperity. 

In the prosecution of your secular business, in 
your efforts to gain a livelihood, to acquire wealth, 
do not neglect literary and scientific pursuits. 
The habit you have already formed for study, I 
trust, will continue with you. Be constant read- 
ers of useful books, magazines and newspapers, 
but avoid vitiating novels, sickening romances and 
tales, as you would a pestilence. It is not a very 
high order of intellect which enables one to ac- 
quire property to the neglect of mental culture — 
which feeds the body and starves the mind! The 
enjoyments of the illiterate, the merely rich and 
sensual, are poor indeed, compared with the pleas- 
ures of the educated. The cultured mind has 
sources of happiness that the rich, yet ignorant, 
know but little of. The strife now going on, in 
this our loved America, for the acquirement of 
wealth is very great, and bodes no good to our 
country. The various processes of piling up for- 
tunes — millions upon millions of dollars — engen- 
der monopolies and portend oppression and suffer- 
ing to the producing classes, to the toiling mil- 
lions. Goldsmith tells us: 

"III fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay." 

My young friends : I am instructed by the Board 
of Directors to present you each a diploma certi- 
fying to your honorable prosecution and comple- 
tion of your course of study. Please do not cast 
it aside as worthless paper, but preserve and cher- 
ish it as a merited offering from us. May it be an 
incentive to greater efforts, resulting in stiil no- 
bler achievements. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 193 

The diplomas were now presented by the Presi- 
dent. It was a prond satisfaction to the patrons 
and friends of our schools to see that large class 
of fifteen graduates step forward, one by one, as 
their names were called, and receive their diplo- 
mas. 

The exercises 'were concluded by a song "Oh, 
Restless Sea," sung by Mrs. VanArnam, Mrs. 
Miles and Mr. Torrence. 

All acquitted themselves creditably, and their 
friends have good reason to feel proud of them. 



36 



194 LIFE AND TIMES OP 



CHAPTER XLI. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY. 

THE Charles City Intelligencer of July 8th, 
1880, in giving- a report of the proceedings at 
the ■■ celebration of American Independence in 
Charles City, that year, has the following: 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, the toast-master, did 
not follow the usual course; but, in preparing his 
toasts and sentiments, he gave us something 
unique and instructive. The responses were able, 
prompt and well delivered. Instead of tiring the 
audience, the listeners seemed eager to catch and 
swallow every word. We should be glad to pub- 
lish all these pithy, patriotic speeches, and regret- 
that time and space prevent. The regular toasts 
were as follows: 

The Day We Celebrate: On the 4th of July, 104 
years ago, in Philadelphia, when the Declaration 
of American Independence was read to the assem- 
bled multitude, the bell of Independence Hall, in 
merry peals, gave utterance to the prophetic 
words engraved upon its surface: ''Proclaim lib- 
erty throughout all the land unto all the inhabi- 
tants, thereof." 

Response by A. M. Harrison, Esq. 

Our Agricultural Interests: The prosperity of a 
country depends upon the intelligent cultivation 
of the soil. Agriculture is the soul of commerce 
and the true foundation of a nation's greatness. 

"He that by the plow would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive." 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 195 

Response by Addis Schermerhorn, of Cedar 
township. 

Our Citizen Soldiers:. "The obligations of the 
Republic to the men who preserved its integrity 
in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse 
of fifteen years since their final victory. To do 
them honor is and forever shall be the grateful 
privilege, and sacred duty, of the American peo- 
ple." 

Response by Capt. Geo. H. Nichols, of Marble 
Rock. 

Our Musical Amateurs: 

"The man that hath not music in himself, 

Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, 

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils ; 

Let no such man be trusted." 
* * * * * * 

"If music be the food of love, play on." 

Song by Will S. Harwood, entitled "The Battle 
Hymn of the Republic" — and chorus by the audi- 
ence. Beautifully rendered. 

The Law: All beings have their laws. Deity 
has His laws; the material world has its laws; the 
beasts have their laws; man has his laws; and 
Charles City has both laws and lawyers. 

Response by J. S. Root, Esq. 

Our Free Public Schools: They are the palladium 
of our country's liberty. 

"Delightful task to rear the tender mind ; 
Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 

Response by Prof. J. C. Yocum. 

The Press: In the earlier days of the Puritans, 
when Salem in Massachusetts was expected to be 
the principal seaport of New England, instead of 
Boston, a newspaper was established there having 
for its motto: 

"Here shall the press the people's rights maintain, 
Unawed by influence — unbribed by gain — 
Here patriot truth shall noble precepts draw, 
Pledged to religion, liberty and law." 



196 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Response by E. B. Dyke. 

The Clergy: Theirs is a sacred calling. Tis 
theirs to be watchful of the welfare of mankind on 
earth, and guide them to a more perfect bliss be- 
yond the skies. 

Response by Rev. C. T. Tucker. 



AZKO B. F. HILDRETH. 19" 



CHAPTER XL.IT. 

CEDAR VALLEY EDUCATIONAL UMION. 

IN the spring of 1884 an association was organ- 
ized at Charles City under the name of - w Cedar 
Valley Educational Union." and A. B. P. Hildreth 
was elected its President. The members of this 
Association were school teachers, school officers, 
and active friends of the cause of education. On 
a subsequent occasion Mr. Hildreth read a paper 
before the Association, copied below, entitled 

VERMONT AND THE VERMONTERS. 

The territory which is now included in the State 
of Vermont was an unbroken wilderness for a long 
time after the surrounding country was settled. 
Canada had been peopled, the Dutch, or Holland- 
ers, had made a settlement at Aurania. now Al- 
bany, and then followed settlements in Eastern 
New England. But a considerable period elapsed 
before the mountainous region of Vermont was 
possessed by any but marauding bands of Indians. 

As time progressed, settlers from Massachusetts 
and Connecticut gradually and constantly moved 
into the then 'mew State," as it was termed. 

These pioneer settlers were of the Puritan 
stock, Englishmen or their descendants, with the 
exception of some Dutch people from the Hudson 
river who took possession of the southwestern 
portion. It may with truth be said that no ances- 



198 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

try in the world is so illustrous as the Puritan 
founders of New England. They were heroes as 
well as pilgrims. 

The spirit of liberty dwells in all mountainous 
countries. In proof of this we may look , to the 
Highlands of Scotland, to the 

"Scots who have with Wallace bled, 
Scots whom Bruce had often led." 

Look to Switzerland, or to the Tyrolese, 

"Where the song of freedom soundeth !" 

To the Circassians upon the Caucasus, who ever 
contend for liberty, and defy the whole power of 
Russian despotism. 

Vermont is often denominated the "Switzerland 
of America, 1 ' and it is indeed true that the spirit 
of a Williani Tell filled the breasts of those hardy 
mountaineers, Seth Warner, Ethan Allen, and 
their compatriots, who boldly captured fortifica- 
tions, as at Ticonderoga, in the "name of the 
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

The strife which led to the erection of Vermont 
as an independent State reminds one of the mon- 
key weighing the cheese. The territory was in a 
fair way to be eaten up or absorbed by New York 
and New Hampshire, when those hardy sons de- 
clared that they would not belong to either com- 
monwealth, but would have, and did have, a State 
of their own. In this* crisis it was necessary that 
they should have, as Mrs. Sigourney expresses it. 

"A leader, when the blast of ruthless war swept by, 
A teacher, when the storm was past, and guide to worlds 
on high." 

And on the 4th of March, A. D. 1791. Vermont be- 
came an integral part of the new American Union. 
Owing to the green verdure; on her hills and 
mountains, the name. Verd Mont or Vermont was 
appropriately given her. 

The soil of the Green Mountain State was never 
polluted by the tread of a slave. f How natural 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 199 

that her sons now in Iowa should seek for the 
homes of their adoption a land where slaves had 
never dwelt. 

Proud am I to be a native of the Green Moun- 
tains. My ancestors were rigid in their discipline, 
industrious in their habits, and constant in their 
religious observances. Some one has said truly, 

" Tis pleasant to talk with our past hours, 
And ask them what report they bring for heaven." 

Memory calls up a thousand recollections of those 
early days when I was a student in my native town, 
struggling with those abstruse sciences known 
as "the three R*s," ••Reading, Riting, Rithmetic, ,, 
branches of an education deemed so essential by 
our fathers to fit and prepare us for the future 
every day active duties of life. Oh, halcyon days 
of my Green Mountain boyhood! 

Stephen A. Douglas, or some other good Demo- 
crat, once said that Vermont was a good State to 
be born in and a better one to emigrate from. I 
admit that the climate there was too pure for per- 
sons whose politics, religion or morals were not of 
the orthodox stamp; hence Mr. Douglas, of Kan- 
sas-Nebraska memory; Joseph Smith, of Mormon 
celebrity; and. John H. Noyes, of Oneida fame, all 
found it convenient to ••emigrate." 

But, on the other hand, what Vermonter does 
not point with pride to such names as George P. 
Marsh, George P. Edmunds, Hiram Powers, John 
A. Kasson. William A. Wheeler, Chester A. Arthur 
and Justin S. Morrill? 

The fathers and mothers of that State may not 
be able to acquire great wealth, but they can and 
do build school houses and raise me'n! The State 
of which I speak knows but little of the splendors 
or the miseries of crowded cities: 

" 'Tis a rough land of earth, and, stone,, and tree, 
Where breathes no castled lord nor cabined slave." 

It is inhabited chiefly by husbandmen who till 
their own fields with their own hands. Industry 



200 LIFE AND TIMES OP 

and frugality have been the making and the sav- 
ing of her people. In the earlier days, who but 
the mothers manufactured the flax and wool into 
cloth, by hand cards, linen and woolen wheels, 
and hand looms? In those early days all were 
clothed with domestic products. They were strong 
and healthy; their dress was plain and adapted to 
the season and their business. Their visits were 
not formal, ceremonious and heartless, but cheer- 
ful and cordial. When prosperous, all partook of 
the common joy; when sickness or calamity befel 
any, all were affected. The sorrow was mutual, 
and aid and sympathy were freely given. 

To-day these virtuous people are prosperous and 
happy. Visit any part of the State and you will 
see the evidences of thrift. The hills and valleys 
are fertile and productive; the pastures are green, 
and the moral atmosphere is pure. Education 
holds a high rank. The schools and colleges are 
among the best. Useful books, newspapers and 
magazines are found in every dwelling, and all 
native-born citizens are noted for their intelli- 
gence. 

We can only ask that the sons and daughters of 
these people may emulate the virtues of their an- 
cestors, scattered though they may be throughout 
the civilized world. 

"Then hail to thee, Green Mountain State, 
That cherished land of ours ; 
Her sons are like the granite rocks, 
Her daughters like the flowers. 

They quail to none, of none they crave, 

Nor bend the servile knee ; 
The life-blood that their fathers gave 

Still warms the Arm and free. 

Free as the eagle spreads his wings ; 

They own no tyrant's rod ; 
No master, but the King of Kings, 

No monarch but their God !" 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 201 



CHAPTER XLIIL 



AMUSEMENTS. 



VHILE Mr. Hildreth was connected with the 
Cedar Valley Educational Union he was ur- 
gently requested by the programme committee to 
prepare and read a paper before the association 
on the subject of Amusements. He consented, 
and delivered the following which proved highly 
acceptable. The Union not only gave him a vote 
of thanks for it, but requested a copy for publica- 
tion. It was published in the Charles City Intelli- 
gencer, and is copied from that journal, as follows: 

The bow always bent loses its elasticity. Thus 
it is with the human mind, and well is it for man 
that he has a fondness for amusements. The 
brook murmurs a little song as it glides over the 
pebbles on its onward course toward the sea. The 
woods, apparently so weird and lonesome, are 
alive with noise. The waves of old ocean tell of 
many things, as, with organ-like music, they rise 
from the great waters. 

Thus is it everywhere in the order of nature. 
Thus would it ever be with man had not sin come 
into the world. How sad that, with intellectual 
beings, so capable of enjoyment, so much of woe 
should be intermingled. 

The question then arises, What amusements, 
for us. are proper and beneficial? We know that 



202 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

many so-called amusements are demoralizing and 
hurtful in a greater or less degree. We know that 
what is enjoyable or amusing to one is painful and 
detestable to another. As such we name the ball- 
room, the theater, the gaming table, the drinking 
saloon, the horse-race, the prize-fight, the circus, 
and other affairs of like character. Yet if the 
evil that attaches to these amusements could be 
separated and banished therefrom, many of them 
would be not only diverting and enjoyable, but 
actually beneficial, both mentally and physically. 

Then do not denounce the ball-room, the thea- 
ter, or the circus, but rather the evil which, like a 
fungus, has become attached to them. 

The dance, properly conducted, is a school of 
social refinement and pleasure — a promoter of 
physical strength and bodily health. It is an in- 
stitution that dates back to the earlier periods of 
human existence, and its enjoyments find record 
all through the pages of Holy Writ. 

The theater is a source of high literary gratifi- 
cation,, The ancient drama was a repository of 
learning and taste — a vehicle of poetic genius and 
lofty eloquence, and consequently a source of lit- 
erary refinement and pleasure. 

iEschylus, the Athenian, was as poetic and 
beautiful in his dramatic compositions, as he was 
brave and heroic on the plains of Marathon. 

Sophocles and Euripides did much to purify the 
language of their times, and shed an attractive 
halo around the Grecian stage. , 

We know that the modern stage is condemned, 
and justly so, in many cases; and yet Mrs. Siddons 
maintained her purity of character amid all the 
corruptions of the English drama. The same may 
be said of Charlotte Cushman, who, upon the 
American stage was ever the promoter of virtue, 
and, whenever she appeared, shed a soft and mel- 
low light around scenes of hallowed love and do- 
mestic tenderness. ' 

I am happy ,to say there has been marked reform 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH.. 203 

in recent years. In the first-class theaters, now. 
both east and west, no bar is allowed, no improper 
characters '• admitted, and no obscene or impure 
language is heard from the stage. The most fas- 
tidious gentleman — the most refined and sensitive 
lady— may attend these theaters, and be as secure 
from immoral influences as in any church. 

The circus, in past years, has had a bad name 
and a bad following; so much so that many of the 
more respectable portion of the community abso- 
lutely refused to patronize them. In many cases 
the proprietors of these equestrian exhibitions 
have failed and been financially ruined. In Charles 
City, the past two years, with One exception, our 
Mayor charged so high a license that circus com- 
panies could not afford to pay it, and passed us by. 
Many of us exclaimed, "Good riddance!" And 
why? Not because we do not love that noble ani- 
mal, the horse; not because We do not admire good 
horsemanship, and enjoy the sports of the ring; 
not because the gymnasium is an unprofitable or 
corrupting school; but it was because of the evils 
that follow or have 1 crept in. Thieves and gam- 
blers almost invariably accompany these shows 
and detract much from their profitable enjoyment. 

The proprietors and managers of circuses, 
knowing how shocked are the moral and religious 
classes, owing to the presence of vicious charac- 
ters, at these entertainments, have sought in vari- 
ous ways to overcome the difficulty — advertising 
that theirs is a moral show — that they have a 
menagerie attachment, including a sacred cow and 
other holy animals! But all to little or no purpose. 
The moral sentiment of our people is certainly on 
the advance; and not until some method can be 
devised, whereby the circus shall be purified, can 
the institution become popular and profitable. 

The race course, under proper restrictions, may 
have its commendable features. But the system 
of pooling and betting, lying and cheating— the 
drugging and stimulating the poor horses — all 



204 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

render the contests of the races the worst kind of 
gambling, and pernicious to the last degree. 

Is there to be no reform of these abuses? As 
already stated, we love the horse and love to wit- 
ness his capabilities. When the evils that attend 
the circus and race-course shall be swept away, 
then can we visit them with our wives and chil- 
dren, and enjoy that unalloyed pleasure which the 
human soul so ardently craves. 

Of the drinking saloon, the gambling table, and 
the prize fight, 1 cannot write one word in com- 
mendation. Their influences are evil and only 
evil. The saloon is a rendezvous for the vicious 
and the vile — a place where youth are corrupted, 
and the husband, and father, squander time and 
money that should go to the support of wives and 
children. The gambling table is a fit accompani- 
ment of the saloon; and the prize fight is a species 
of brutality unworthy of beasts of prey. 

Then, what shall be done? How shall the peo- 
ple be amused? I answer, in a thousand ways, 
but can only point to a few. The tired merchant 
and business man — the author, the editor, the 
school teacher, and all engaged in arduous intel- 
lectual pursuits, as well as the mechanic and 
laborer, stand in need of relaxation and amuse- 
ment. Without them life would be a desert waste 
and man would not live out half his days. How 
long would be the life of a Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, 
Marshal Field, the Farwells, and others similarly 
overwhelmed with business, could they not often 
find relaxation from care? Well is it for them 
that, in the companionship of wife and children, 
they can visit the theater or other proper place of 
amusement, and thus recuperate their wearied 
minds and overt-axed brains, and be better pre- 
pared for the toilsome, exhausting duties of the 
coming day. 

In Charles City, and in various localities in 
Floyd county, we have dramatic and literary tal- 
ent of no ordinary character. Our young men and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 205 

young women have good physical systems; good 
health; good, bright, clear intellects; and, thanks 
to our splendid system of common schools, they 
are acquiring that education and mental culture 
which will fit them for almost any station in life. 
It is the boast and pride of our people that we can 
at any time inaugurate and produce a better liter- 
ary, dramatic, or other amusing and instructive 
entertainment, composed wholly of home talent, 
than any similar entertainments furnished by trav- 
eling professional players and artists. 

Let us here put in a word of caution. Our 
young men and young women, who engage in 
these amusements, should ever be guarded and 
watchful that they do not overstep the bounds of 
propriety. Let them, on all occasions, when they 
meet and mingle together, be civil, courteous, po- 
lite and respectful, one towards the other. We 
respect ourselves when we respect others. 

The youth should be ever mindful that the eyes 
of the world are upon them; that they are forming 
character which will determine their prosperity, 
or reverse, through life. 

I know families in this town where the parents 
have not forgotten that once they were young, 
and that amusement is essential to human happi- 
ness. They join with their children in music and 
dancing; in various innocent games, and partici- 
pate in all their youthful sports. 

The child, trained up in this manner, will never 
seek the companionship of the dissolute and the 
vile. He will shun the saloon as he would a pest 
house. In after years how many hallowed associ- 
ations will come thronging upon the mind of a 
person thus trained, as he looks back to his child- 
hood's home! 

Of innocent outdoor sports I may mention skat- 
ing, coasting, ball-playing, archery, lawn tennis, 
croquet, the velocipede, bicycle, and games and 
sports of a similar nature. 

Of course I need not remind my friends that 



206 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

there is a potent witchery of pleasure in a sleigh- 
ride and its remembrances which stirs to the 
heart's depths the feeling of both old and yotmg. 

Of in-door amusements we have card-playing, 
chess, backgammon, checkers, fox and geese, 
nine-men-morris, parlor skates, billiards, music 
and dancing. 

Let me urge you to never, under any circum- 
stances, indulge in the practice of betting on the 
result of your gardes. There is where the mis- 
chief comes in. It is there and then that the gam- 
bling commences, and we then go on from bad to 
worse. 

H The rural juvenile has an everchanging round 
Of pleasures. 1 In winter there is the ice upon the 
river Over whicli the boy goes skimming, for miles, 
as if on fairie's wings; and, if a bright-eyed girl is 
his skating companion, the two glide on forgetful 
of all things but the keen air and the exhilarating 
emotion. What in life car! seem, more Elysian to a 
boy and girl than this ? ''•'.! 

Coasting is another pleasant pastime. How can 
children remain in -doors during the many glorious 
winter days? Old ladies may lament the chill 
winter weather, but the boy and girl rejoice over 
it. In springtime these blithesome children are 
off to the woods, and are first to hail the primrose 
and violet, and climb the trees in search of bird's 
nests and blossoms. In summer and autumn they 
go in search of berries and nuts. Oh, halcyon 
days of youth! 

Many Of my youthful friends 1 seek pleasure in 
novel reading. I cannot commend the practice. 
There is too much of the real and true in this fast- 
going world of ours, to waste time in poring over 
the exciting pages of sickly, enervating romance 
—imaginary joys and sorrows— which unfit us to 
grapple with the stern realities of life. 

Read biography and history— read the lives of 
Washington and Franklin— read the histories from 
the pens of Bancroft and Prescott; and tell me, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 207 

what have romances, or tales of fiction, to com- 
pare with works like these? 

Oh! my friends, if sin were banished, what an 
Elysium would earth afford for human beings! 
But we all know that disappointment and anxiety 
mark the various pursuits of life. The pleasures 
of sense are momentary — the triumphs of ambition 
are short — the laurels upon the warrior's brow 
wither and fade; the music, that once cheered falls 
dull and powerless upon the soul. And is there 
no escape V There is. Seek 

"Domestic happiness ! the only bliss 
Of Paradise that hath survived the fall." 

The family circle, where love glows in every 
heart, is a sweet, pure emblem of Paradise. 

"The treasures of the deep are not so precious 
As are the concealed comforts of a man 
Locked up, in woman's love." < 

For man and woman to share each other's joys 
and sorrows— to listen to expressions of tender- 
ness and love, as to the music of an angel— this is 
happiness next to the joys of heaven. If there be 
children the bliss of honie is only the more inten- 
sified. The man who beholds a confiding wife 
whom he loves, and an innocent child looking to 
him for support, is held by golden cords and will 
not readily indulge in idleness, folly or crime. 

"The hearth of home has a constant flame 
And pure as vestal fire, 
'T will burn ever and ever the same, 
For nature feeds the pyre." 

Charles City, Iowa, Dec. 28, 1884. 



208 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE WARMING. 

^URING the fall of 1890 the Congregational 
meeting-house of Charles City was enlarged 
and much improved. On Nov. 7th, by invitation 
of Rev. Charles Noble, the pastor, there was a 
large gathering of the Congregationalists and 
their friends, at the church, to celebrate the event 
of the improvements that had been made. Clergy- 
men of different denominations were present and 
the exercises and social converse were of the 
pleasantest and most interesting kind. Mr. Noble 
stated that the following brief sketch of the his- 
tory of the church, which he read, was written at 
his request by Hon. A. B. P. Hildreth. who Was 
unable to be present on account of the illness of 
his wife : 

Among the early settlers of Charles City were 
several families from New York and the New 
England States. From the time of the landing of 
the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock to the present 
day this class of people have felt it a duty to sup- 
port churches, build school houses and raise men. 

The first school house in Charles City was a 
small one -story frame building which stood where 
the present large stone school house (east side) 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 209 

now stands. So soon as this building was en- 
closed, and before it contained seats and desks, 
logs of wood were carried in and on them were 
placed boards and slabs for seats for the purpose 
of holding public worship there on Sundays. The 
preachers were of different denominations — Meth- 
odists, Baptists and Congregationalists. In those 
days all denominations were united in Christian 
fellowship. It is true that the population of 
Charles City was interspersed with another class 
of people — a kind who are said to keep ahead of 
rats and meeting-houses. These persons were en- 
sconced in different places, playing cards and gam- 
bling, or were engaged in hunting and fishing. 
Indeed from morning till night the holy Sabbath 
was profaned with the crack of the rifle and re ; 
port of the fowling piece in the neighboring 
groves. But, as civilization came in, barbarism 
disappeared, and in one or two years these un- 
pleasant scenes were changed. 

The first church edifice erected in Charles City 
was the present Baptist church. It was built by 
the united contributions of the different denomina- 
tions, and for a while all worshiped there united- 
ly and harmoniously — Baptists, Methodists, Con- 
gregationalists and Campbellites. As the popula- 
tion of the town increased these denominations 
separated, and each from time to time erected a 
church of its own. 

At first the Congregationalists occupied the old 
Masonic Hall on the corner of Main and Blunt 
streets. Their first pastor was Rev. J. H. Wind- 
sor, who preached for them during the years 1858, 
1859 and 1860. It was during his pastorate, in 
1858, that the First Congregational Church of 
Floyd County, at Charles City, was organized. 
This organization consisted at that time of nine 
members, viz., Josiah Knight, Betsey Knight, 
Samuel Hackley, Mary Hackley. Ira Brackett, 
Clarinda Brackett, Liveria A. Hildreth, Jane L. 
Palmer and Rev. J. H. Windsor. 



210 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The Ecclesiastical Society of this church was 
organized in 1862, during the pastorate of Rev. W. 
A. Adams. The incorporators were A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, Josiah Knight, Rev. W. A. Adams, Samuel 
Hackley, Geo. C. Dean, Milo Gilbert, W. B.'Covel, 
G. G. Reiniger, A. W. French and Wm. B. Fair- 
field. 

The first board of trustees consisted of Messrs. 
Gilbert, Reiniger, Dean, Hackley and French. 

In 1867, under the pastorate of Rev. D. N. Bord- 
well, the present church building (without addi- 
tion) was erected, the dedication taking place«in 
January 1868. The building committee were H. H. 
Case, E. C. Chapin, W. B. Fairfield, C. W. Fletch- 
er and J. R. Mitchell. 

In 1879, under the pastorate of Rev. N. M. Clute, 
D. D. , the building was enlarged and the internal 
arrangement of seats, etc. , changed and improved. 
This condition of the building remained until the 
present year, 1890, when the house was again en- 
larged, under the pastorate of Rev. C. Noble, and 
throughout the edifice has been essentially reno- 
vated and fitted up with several needed conven- 
iences. All this progress and improvement attest 
the liberality, public spirit, and moral and relig- 
ious character of the citizens of Charles City. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 211 



CHAPTER XLV. 

DEATH OF MRS. L. A. HILDRETH. 

AFTER the manuscript for this book had been 
placed in the hands o£ the printers, and the 
work had made considerable progress, Mr. Hil- 
dreth was called to mourn the death of his beloved 
wife. The Intelligencer of Dec. 9th, 1890, an- 
nounced the sad event as follows; 

Hildreth. — Died in Charles City, Monday, Dec. 
8th, 1890, Mrs. Liveria A. Hildreth, aged 73 years 
and 6 months. Funeral services will be held in 
the Congregational Church on Wednesday at 3 
o'clock p. m., Rev. Charles Noble and Dr. N. M. 
Clute officiating. 

In a separate paragraph of the same paper the 

following editorial notice was given: 

The sad news comes to us this morning that 
Mrs. Liveria A. Hildreth, wife of Hon. A. B. F. 
Hildreth, died at 10:30 p. m., last night. The end 
was expected, as she has been unconscious since 
Friday. Mrs. Hildreth was one of the pioneers of 
Charles City, having come here more than thirty- 
four years ago with her husband, who was the 
founder of the Intelligencer. She was a woman of 
great force of character and an earnest and devot- 
ed Christian, and her death is but the transfer of 
an immortal soul to a higher sphere of activity. 
During her long illness she has suffered greatly, 
but has had the untiring care and devotion of her 



212 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

husband, who has anticipated every wish, and 
smoothed the pillow of pain by unwearied service. 
Mrs. Hildreth was born in Surry, N. H., June 
11th, 1817. From early youth she has been a pro- 
fessor of religion and a member of the Congrega- 
tional Church. She and Mr. Hildreth were mar- 
ried in Fryebnrg, Maine, Oct. 21st, 1844, and have 
seen 46 years of happy married life. 

In the Intelligencer of Dec. 16, 1890, we find the 

following 

OBITUARY. 

Hildreth. — Last week, just before the Intelli- 
gencer went to press, we received the sad news of 
the death of Mrs. Hildreth, wife of Hon. A. B. F. 
Hildreth, of this city. At that time we could only 
make the announcement and add a word or two; 
but we feel and know that this estimable lady de- 
served a more extended notice, and that the read- 
ers of the Intelligencer, as well as the public gen- 
erally, are entitled to it. As previously pub- 
lished, the funeral services on Wednesday were 
held in the Congregational church and were large- 
ly attended. The officiating clergymen were Rev. 
Charles Noble, and Dr. N. M. Clute. The services 
were very impressive and instructive. The flow- 
ers furnished by loving friends were numerous, 
and none could be more beautiful and appropriate. 
Mrs. Bradley presided at the organ, and the 
hymns sung were those familiar ones — "Jesus, 
Lover of my Soul," "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me," 
and "Silently, Silently, They Pass Away." The 
pall bearers were those pioneer settlers of Charles 
City, John Howard, Sanford Harwood, G. B. East- 
man, William Kellogg, Tisdale A. Hand and W. E. 
Holbrook. 

As stated by Mr. Noble, "Mrs. Hildreth was a 
pioneer citizen, having been a resident of Charles 
City more than thirty-four years. She was a 
Christian from her earliest youth and was one of 
the founders and original members of the first 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 213 

Congregational Church in Charles City. She was 
a woman of great energy and industry, and while 
health and strength remained was active in church 
work. The last years of her life were years of fee- 
bleness and much bodily suffering." 

Over four years ago Mrs. Hildreth had an attack 
of aphasia, or apoplexy, caused by disease of the 
heart, resulting in the bursting of a blood-vessel 
on the brain. From this affliction she never fully 
recovered. One year ago the epidemic called la 
grippe took a strong hold on her and from it she 
was never able to rally. Her maiden name was 
Liveria Aurette Knight. She was born in Surry, 
Cheshire county, N. H., on June 11th, 1817; con- 
sequently was seventy-three and one-half years of 
age at the time of her death. She was married to 
Mr. Hildreth on the 21st day of October, 1844, in 
Fryeburg, Oxford county, Me. She had been a 
student of Mr. Hildreth's at the time he taught a 
district school in Piermont, N. H., when he was 
but sixteen years old, she being about one year 
younger than he was. This union was blessed 
with one child only, a daughter, who lived only to 
the age of six years and five months. Thence for- 
ward they were destined to remain childless. 
Their lives, however, were prosperous and happy, 
to a greater extent, perhaps, than falls to the lot 
of mortals in general. 

It was well known that Mrs. Hildreth was a 
lady of education and refinement — was possessed 
of superior business talents — was an excellent 
manager of her household affairs — and to her hus- 
band she was ever his best adviser and counsellor. 
Mr. Hildreth has indeed suffered a great loss in 
the death of his amiable wife. He says that he 
never knew how much he loved her until now. 
The church to which she belonged, and the socie- 
ty in which she moved, have also met a loss which 
can hardly be repaired. 

Mrs. Hildreth now rests peacefully in the family 
lot in Riverside Cemetery. 



214 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

We give herewith selections from the funeral 
sermon preached by Rev. Mr. Noble, the text hav- 
ing been chosen by Mr. Hildreth himself: . 

Revelations 14; 13 — "And I heard a voice from 
Heaven, saying unto me, Write: Blessed are the 
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors: and their works do follow them.' 1 

We are so familiar with the characteristic words 
of Jesus, that we forget their wonderful nature. 
The world has not yet ceased admiring them, but 
has scarcely begun to live according to their 
teaching. The first verses of the Sermon on the 
Mount give us a description of human blessedness 
which is an absolute contradiction of the ordinari- 
ly accepted principles of worldly wisdom. Jesus 
said, Blessed are the poor in spirit. The world 
says, blessed are the rich. Jesus said, Blessed 
are they that mourn. The world says, blessed are 
they that are merry. Jesus said, Blessed are the 
meek. The world says, blessed are the high spir- 
ited, the pushing, energetic souls. Jesus said, 
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after 
righteousness. The world says, blessed are they 
that know not the meaning of hunger and thirst. 
Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful. The world 
says, revenge is sweet; or in the language of to- 
day, it is good to get even with your enemy. Jesus 
said. Blessed are the pure in heart. The world 
says, there is no such thing as heart purity; the 
man is happy when he gratifies his lusts respecta- 
bly, that is, without open disgrace. Jesus said, 
Blessed are the peace-makers. The world says, 
blessed are the good fighters; the conquerors in 
the great war of life! The whole conception is 
different, and opposed at every point. We who 
are called Christians, even when we sincerely 
strive to realize the Christian ideal are just spel- 
ling out the A B C of the great lesson our Redeem- 
er taught. Men have a desire for happiness. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 215 

They have a conception of what it means. They 
struggle for the realization of that ideal. But the 
struggle consists mainly in the effort to escape 
from sickness, pain and sorrow, and to gratify our 
natural desires; consequently for almost all men 
the result of the life struggle is a sad disappoint- 
ment. Sickness, pain and sorrow will not be es- 
caped, and the natural desires cannot be gratified. 
Our desires conflict. When all would be rich, 
some must be poor. When all would have power, 
some must submit. When all would win success, 
some must fail. The distinguishing peculiarity of 
the Christ's conception of Blessedness, that which 
marks it off completely from the world's concep- 
tion of happiness is this : It is something independ- 
ent of the circumstances of every day life. It is 
something that can be realized by alL because it 
does not contradict the unavoidable conditions of 
hiaman life. Blessed are the poor. Into the hovels 
of poverty the light of Christ's presence comes. 
Blessed are they that mourn. Into the homes of 
sorroiv, under the shadow of affliction, the flower 
of Christian blessedness may bloom. And it is 
but as the natural and logical inference from this 
whole conception of the true value of our life, that 
we hear the angel voice saying to the Revelator: 
' 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from 
henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may 
rest from their labors: and their works do follow 

them." 

****** 

How much of our time on earth is filled with 
hard and painful toil. It was labor, no play, no 
light easy work, that brought this community into 
existence. They who were the pioneers look back 
to much that was pleasant and cheery in the early 
days. But they look back to much that was hard 
and toilsome. There was not for them, could not 
be, the division of labor which makes life's work 
so much simpler nowadays. People had to be 
their own woodcutters, their own cooks and hand- 



216 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

maids. They were compelled to labor in a thou- 
sand different ways, when now they work at one 
task. Right bravely, cheerily, did they set them- 
selves to the work. Right patiently and constant- 
ly did they hold on at the labor! And that which 
we enjoy is the result of that labor. This settled 
country, these roads and bridges, school houses, 
court houses, homes, factories, social institutions, 
churches and governments — all these things are 
the result of the labor of the pioneers. Now they 
begin to rest from their labors! One after anoth- 
er, these early settlers are passing away from the 
scenes of their activity. We lay their toil-worn 
bodies away, with a tender reverence; for they 
have borne the burdens of life for us. Other men 
labored, and we have entered into their labors! 
The way has been beaten for us, the path has been 
opened for us, society has been built for us, and 
faithful labor which beat the way, opened the 
path, built society, is represented by the frail, 
worn tenement of clay which we are taking to the 
grave to-day. Thank God when at such a time 
we can say with no reservation or doubt, but with 
the full meaning of the words: Blessed are the 
dead that die in the Lord, yea, saith the Spirit, 
that they may rest from their labors. I think at 
this moment of a little company of people gath- 
ered in a little room, — fewer in number than that 
other company gathered in that other room in 
Jerusalem, 1800 years ago. Let me repeat their 
names, it will take but a little while: J. H. Wind- 
sor, Samuel Hackley, Josiah Knight, Ira Brackett. 
Mary Hackley, Betsey Knight, Clarinda Brackett, 
Liveria A. Hildreth. I think of the faith and 
courage that animated that little company, and 
made them strong enough to found a Church of 
Christ. I think of the years of faithful service 
that followed; of the prayer, and the words of 
Christian cheer! of the whole wide range of inter- 
est and effort that go to make up the round of 
a Christian Church's work. That little company 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 217 

have mostly passed over to the great Church of the 
Redeemed in Heaven. Only two I think, are left. 
We are met to lay in the ground the body of our 
sister, Mrs. Hildreth, and to rejoice with her, that 
her labors are ended, her warfare accomplished, 
and that she has entered into her rest. Her works 
do follow her. This Church with all its activ- 
ities; the souls here brought to the knowledge of 
Christ; the lives lifted to a higher plane and 
strengthened in grace and virtue. A great com- 
pany of fellow Church members will greet her in 
the better life, and while time shall last, the bles- 
sed influences of that little meeting in the upper 
room shall continue. Ah! friends, we cannot be- 
gin to measure, we cannot limit the contents of 
that blessing on the dead who die in the Lord. 
Living in the Lord, every day has seen some act 
of helpfulness that God has blessed. As each 
movement causes other movements, which extend 
themselves throughout the universe, so each 
Christian action moves upon other hearts and lives, 
and the influence never ceases. They rest from 
their labors, and their works do follow them! 
May it be our lot to live in the Lord, and so to 
have for ours the blessings which Christ has 
promised, and so at the end of our pilgrimage to 
die in the Lord; to fall asleep in Jesus and receive 
that last completest blessing! 

The following are the remarks of Dr. Clute: 

To an old man all other bereavements are tri 
fling in comparison with the loss of his wife. For 
there is no earthly affection that is so strong, so 
pure, so true, so absorbing, as the love which 
binds together an aged husband and wife. What 
a long period of happiness! How often they ex- 
press their mutual thankfulness that they have 
been permitted thus to walk on hand in hand 
through life, sharing each other's joys and sor- 
rows, and growing dearer and dearer to each other 
year by year. What lovely pictures of wedded 
life do the Scriptures furnish as they tell us of the 

28 



218 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

aged Zacharias and Elizabeth, of Elkanah and 
Hannah, of Abraham and Sarah. We are told how 
Abraham loved his beautiful Sarah, she calling 
him lord and he calling her princess, as her name 
denoted. And when she died, one hundred and 
twenty- seven years old, we are told how bitterly 
Abraham mourned for her. And when he died, 
one hundred and seventy-five years old, his sons 
buried him in the cave of Machpelah by the side 
his loved Sarah. 

And not only do old people love each other with 
a stronger and purer affection than is possible to 
the young, but aged Christians love their Savior 
with intenser affection and gratitude, as life draws 
to its close. They have clearer views of His worth 
and loveliness, and more ardent desires to be with 
Him forever. As ripe fruit is sweeter than green 
fruit so is old age sweeter than youth, provided the 
youth were grafted into Christ. As harvest-time 
is a brighter time than seed-time, so is old age a 
brighter time than youth, if youth were a seed- 
time for good. As sailing into port is far happier 
than the voyage over the wild waters, so old age 
is far happier than youth if the voyage is made 
with Christ at the helm. 

To the aged Christian heaven comes nearer day 
by day, and he feels nearer heaven. I have read 
somewhere of a family gathering of the old and 
young, where the question was asked, Which sea- 
son of the life was most happy? After being free- 
ly discussed by the children, it was referred for 
answer to the aged father, upon whom rested the 
burden of four score years. He pointed to a grove 
of trees before the dwelling, and said, "When the 
spring comes, and in the soft air the buds are 
bursting on the trees, and they are covered with 
blossoms, I think, Hoiv beautiful is spring! And 
when summer comes, and the trees are clothed 
with their lovely foliage, and the birds are singing 
in the branches, I think. How beautiful is summer! 
When autumn loads them down with fruit, and the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 219 

ripening leaves pnt on their gorgeous tints, I 
think, How beautiful is autumn! And when it is 
bleak winter, and there is neither foliage nor fruit, 
then I look up, and through the leafless branches, 
as I could never until now, I see the stars shine 
through." So to the aged Christian earthly things 
are stripped bare, and heavenly glories are re- 
vealed to him. 

Charles Wesley died in his eightieth year. The 
last lines which he composed were dictated to his 
wife when he could scarcely articulate: 

"In age and feebleness extreme, 
Who shall a sinful world redeem? 
Jesus, nry only hope thou art, 
Strength of my failing flesh and heart ; 
Oh ! could I catch a smile from thee. 
And drop into eternity !" 

Dear friends, when the summons comes that 
calls us away, may we ''catch a smile" from Jesus' 
face, 

"And drop into eternity." 



SILENTLY BURY THE DEAD. 

(Composed by C. E. Leslie, of Chicago.) 

The singing of the following anthem closed the 
exercises at the time of Mrs. Hildreth's funeral: 

Silently, silently they pass away, 

Silently, silently, short is their stay; 

From earth to heaven they've taken their flight, 

Far from all sorrow and pain, and the night, 

To their Savior who is calling, 

Calling come home, calling come home. 

Silently, silently, sweet is their sleep, 

Silently, silently, for them we weep : 

Oh, how we mourn, and how sad are our hearts, 

When from the body the spirit departs ; 

But, 't is Jesus who is calling, 

Calling come home, calling come home. 



220 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Silently, silently bury the dead, 

Silently, silently their soul has fled, 

Up to our heavenly Father who gave, 

And through his great loving kindness will save 

For 't is Jesus who is calling, 

Calling come home, calling come home. 

Silently, silently lay them to rest, 
Silently, silently, God thought it best ; 
From earth to heaven their Savior to meet, 
And all the sanctified angels to greet ; 
So, 't is Jesus who is calling, 
Calling come home, calling come home. 



TRIBUTE BY REV. J. H. WINDSOR. 

The "Advance" newspaper of Chicago, the or- 
gan of the Cougregational Churches in the West, 
under date of January 15th, 1891, published the 
following obituary article, from the pen of Rev. 
J. H. Windsor, in reference to Mrs. Hildreth. As 
before stated, it was under Mr. Windsor's pastor- 
ate, its first clergyman, that, in 1858, the First 
Congregational Church in Charles City was organ- 
ized. On learning the death of Mrs. Hildreth, who 
was one of his assistant organizers of the church, 
the news revived so many facts in his early life in 
Charles City that, as he has said, he "seemed to 
live over again those formative years with a very 
tender interest;" adding that, in writing the fol- 
lowing sketch for the "Advance," it was a privi- 
lege (to him) to give a tribute to the memory of 
one who was so directly associated with my (his) 
first ministry, and who was always a helper, never 
a hinderer, to my (his) work": 

Obituary. — Mrs. Liveria A. Hildreth was born 
in Surry, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, June 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 221 

11, 1817, and fell asleep December 8, 1890. Her 
parents were Josiah and Betsey (Joslin) Knight; 
her father was at one time proprietor of the cele- 
brated Oxford House, a popular stage hotel at 
Pryeburg, on the route from Portland, Me., to the 
White Mountains, and at that day well known to 
those who resorted to that picturesque region. 
Oct. 21, 1844, this daughter was married to Azro 
B. F. Hildreth, at Fryeburg, the acquaintance 
having been formed when Mr. Hildreth was teach- 
ing a district school in Piermont, N. H. , at which 
school she was then a pupil. 

In the spring of 1856 they moved to Charles 
City, Floyd Co., Iowa, and were among the pio- 
neers whose energy shaped the social life, and 
laid the foundation for the prosperity of the then 
new portion of the State. Mrs. Hildreth' s parents 
also moved about that time to the same place. 
With the enterprise and growth of that city Mr. 
and Mrs. Hildreth have been closely connected; 
the husband, as editor of the first newspaper pub- 
lished in the county, the Charles City Intelligencer, 
for some time also serving the State on its Board 
of Education, and in the Legislature; the wife, as 
his ever- wise counsellor. A woman of native and 
cultivated energy of character, of remarkable in- 
dustry, with intellectual tastes and culture that 
might have distinguished her in a wide range of 
service, she was content to consecrate them to a 
home in which she was a benediction. It can be 
truthfully said of her that ' k she looked well to the 
ways of her household; eating not the bread of 
idleness." 

The wife and the mother filled her conception of 
that crown of womanhood whose excellency is 
recognized in that "her husband praiseth her." 
From girlhood she was a Christian. She early 
united with the church, and as the years grew she 
was enabled modestly and faithfully to maintain 
that early love. Coming to a new country with 
religious privileges at that day far less than in 



222 LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the land of her birth, she did not leave either duty 
or opportunity behind her. She was one of the 
little group who, meeting in the house of the 
writer of this tribute, in the autumn of 1858, to 
consider the organization of a Christian church, 
gave herself to its mission and became one of the 
charter members of the Congregational church of 
Charles City. From that day on to her death she 
was faithful to her consecration, and always a 
cheerful aid to her pastor. The last years of her 
life were years of suffering, borne however with 
patience and a growing hope in that home where- 
in one shall no more say, "I am sick," where 
there is "no more pain." The only child that 
blessed this home was a sweet girl who died when 
but six years old, and the husband of her youth 
and of her age is alone left to survive. To the 
memory of one who failed not to counsel and aid 
her pastor in the home missionary days of that 
little church, this simple tribute is affectionately 
given. j. h. w. 

Downer's Grove, Illinois, January 12th, 1891. 



TRIBUTE. 

To the memory of Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth, of 
Charles City, Iowa, by Mrs. G. G. Reiniger. 

Our homes were near, we often met, 

Across the pleasant way ; 
Many a scene I now recall 

Of each remembered day ; 
Dear Mrs. Hildreth's smiling face 
Made my heart glad — sweet woman's grace. 

I can't forget a friend so true, — 

We knelt at the same shrine, — 
Our faith was one, in love for heaven ; 

Those hours seem half divine ; 
Whene'er I think of those bright days, 
My heart is filled with love and praise. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 223 

With the sad news fond feelings came ; 

It awakened those old years ; 
I'm thinking of my friend, so kind, 

Amid my sighs and tears ; 
And yet I know that "all is well;" 
That the pure in heart in peace e'er dwell. 

Tis entering into life — not death — 

Only a chilling stream, 
Wherein the sainted soul doth sink 

From earth's bewildering dream ; 
A life released — from darkness here — 
To realms of light, forever clear ! 

Arisen ! All glorious and sublime ; — 

An angel sings in heaven ; 
Like a sweet blossom, lent awhile ; 

Its fragrance to earth given, 
To cheer life's lonely, fading skies ; 
Leading us on — to Paradise ! 

Estherville, Iowa, December 17, 1890. 



224 LIFE AND TIMES OF 



CHAPTER XL VI. 



CONSOLATION. 



IN conversation with a friend, on a certain occa- 
sion, Mr. Hildreth remarked : ' 'In my hours of 
trial and heart-ache, many, many times have I 
sought and found consolation in silently reciting 
again and again the following stanzas by Lord 
Byron, a paraphrase of Psalm 4, verse 6 — And I 
said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove; for then 
would I fly away and be at rest." 

"Oh, that to me the wings were given 
Which bear the turtle to her nest ! 
Then would I cleave the vault of heaven, 
To flee away and be at rest." 

Mr. Hildreth was a man of strong, deep feeling, 
and felt an injury, or any wrong done him, most 
keenly. Still, he was not revengeful, nor was he 
disposed to retaliate. Usually it was his practice, 
in regard to those who had wronged him, to leave 
them alone severely. It was not his habit to brood 
over the misfortunes and evils of the past, but to 
turn his thoughts toward a brighter and happier 
future. If "every cloud has a silver lining,' ' then 
he was one who was ever looking for that ' 'silver 
lining." With him, as the phrenologists would 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH, 



225 



say, the organ of hope was largely developed, and 
he was almost always found in a cheerful and 
happy frame of mind. Regrets over any disasters 
of the past he well knew were unavailing, and in- 
stead of laments for the setting sun he was sure to 
turn and look for the rising sun with hopeful eyes. 
His friendships were strong and lasting. 




2!) 



226 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 



PART SECOND. 



PERSONAL LETTERS BY AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 

The letters which follow, written by Mr. Hil- 
dreth, were found at the residence of his sister, 
Mrs. Harriet N. Porter, in Vershire, Vt., several 
years after the death of his mother. It would 
seem that the mother had carefully preserved 
them, and, no doubt, took pleasure in re-perusing 
them from time to time: 

City of Lowell, Mass, Nov. 6th, 1838. 

Distant but ivell remembered and honored parents: 

Although I wrote you five or six weeks since, I 
thought another letter might be acceptable at this 
time. Would it be gratifying to you to know that 
I have engaged in the cause of the Christian Re- 
ligion? Yes, no doubt it would. Pour weeks ago 
last Sunday morning I humbly trust that God for 
Christ's sake was pleased to bless my soul. In a 
retired spot, on the bank of the Merrimac's silvery 
stream, I implored, and, as I trust, found mercy. 
A week ago last Sabbath I went forward in the 
ordinance of baptism by immersion in the Concord 
river, and last Sunday united with the church. I 
find the ways of religion pleasant, and I sincerely 
hope that my life may be such as not to bring re- 
proach upon the name of Christ. Pray for me, 
father and mother, brothers and sisters, that I 
may live a Christian life and become a useful 
member of society. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 227 

My health has been good ever since I left Chel- 
sea, with the exception of a few days in New York, 
when I had a slight cold. I believe all our Chel- 
sea people who reside here are enjoying comfort- 
able health. I have been anxiously looking for 
sister Almira. I wish that she or Mary would 
come. 

I have once or twice been on the point of start- 
ing a newspaper here, but now it is doubtful about; 
my doing so before another year. My friend 
Thomas George, in New York, is ready to help 
me to type and presses. As to the character of 
the paper — it would be devoted to literature, anti- 
slavery and general intelligence. I am now teach- 
ing a writing school and work some in the -'Cas- 
ket" printing office. 

If Almira does not come soon I shall expect a 
letter from her. I like living in Lowell very well, 
Give my compliments to inquiring friends. 
Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., March 7th 1842.. 

My Dear Father: Your letter, informing me of my 
beloved sister Lucy's approaching dissolution, was 
received on Saturday, when I was absent from the 
city. It would certainly be very gratifying to me 
to go to Chelsea and, if it may be, see Lucy once 
more alive, or even to be present at her funeral. 
But, situated as I am, it does not seem convenient 
for me to go. Judging from your letter, it would 
be exceedingly doubtful about my arriving there 
in season, so that I think I had better relinquish 
the object. 

None among my sisters did I love more than 
Lucy. She was always artless and innocent, af- 
fectionate and kind, in the extreme, and always 
appeared like a feeble yet beautiful flower of the 
morning, that must droop and die ere it was noon. 



228 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

Should this letter arrive before she passes from 
this to the spirit world, tell her that I love her; 
that I would rejoice to see her and talk with her; 
tell her not to repine at the approach of death. 
She will then be freed from pain and sickness and 
sorrow, and be received into the arms of her Re- 
deemer. Then will she inhabit a brighter and 
better world beyond the skies. There will she 
meet my dear departed wife, my beloved Hannah, 
another stricken flower who has gone before. Oh! 
is it not well to endure a little suffering here that 
the joys of heaven may be complete? 

The affliction of the family from the loss of one 
so much beloved will be severe, yet we shall not 
mourn as friends without hope. My brothers and 
sisters will feel the shock less than you, and cer- 
tainly less than our dear mother. Oh» mother, do 
not allow this bereavement to bear you down. 
You have seen much of this world's sorrow, and it 
would seem that nothing but the firmest reliance 
on Him who alone can save, has supported you to 
the present time. In this severe trial, as well as 
all others, let Christ be your stay and support. 
You have ever been one of the best of mothers to 
me, and I trust you will allow me this opportunity 
to express my gratitude for your kindness. 

And now allow me to say a word for myself. 
On February 6th I again entered the bands of 
wedlock. My wife's name was Olive Freeman 
Fuller. Her parents live at North Paris, Oxford 
county, Maine. She is nineteen years old, of good 
size, has rosy cheeks and a healthy appearance. 
We have a pleasant home, and I find the loss of 
my dear Hannah almost, perhaps quite, made up 
by my present companion. If it is not so it will 
not be her fault. 

I have sold out both of my publications, the 
"Literary Souvenir" and the ''Ladies' Literary 
Repository." I am out of business now, but 
shall not remain so long. It would seem that 
there are brighter days for me in prospect. I 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 229 

hope so. No one could have endured the ills of 
life with less relaxation than I have. 

Please write soon. Olive wishes me to send her 
sympathies and respects to you all. 

Your son, 
A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Accompanying the foregoing letter of March 
7th, 1842, were the following stanzas: 

MY DYING SISTER'S LAMENT. 

Oh, must I die, mother, while sweet birds are singing, 
And my merry mates' shout in my ear is ringing ; 
Dear mother, do many, as young as am I, 
Pass away from this beautiful world and die? 

I love not the sick bed, so dark and so low : 
Oh, let me lie down where the cool winds blow ; 
'T will cool the hot fever that burns in my brain ; 
Oh, let me look out on the sweet fields again ! 

Hark, mother ! the boys are at play by the brook, 
Oh, sit at the window, dear mother, and look; 
I wish I could rise from this dark curtained bed, 
And in the cool stream bathe my poor aching head. 

Oh, mother ! you will not, when I am gone, 
Let them place o'er my grave a cold tomb-stone ! 
Oh, no ! let the flowers and the fresh leaves grow, 
And let the sweet air o'er the green turf blow. 

But weep not, my parents, for when I die 
My spirit shall go to that blue, sunny sky ; 
And although it is hard to part from you here, 
You'll follow me, ere long, and meet me there. 

A. B. P. H. 



Holyoke, Mass., Feb. 26, 1854. 

My Dear Mother: Father writes me that you are 
quite feeble this winter. I regret to learn this 
fact; and yet when I reflect that old age is creep- 
ing upon you with so steady and sure pace — that 
your constitution has ever been a weakly one — and 
that even that is much impaired by sickness and a 
long life of cares, I need not wonder that it is so. 



230 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

On the contrary, I ought rather to rejoice that it 
is as well with you as it is. 

Dear Mother, I often think of you in my hours 
of silent meditation; (when looking back to the 
past, to the days of my boyhood and early youth, 
when we were once a numerous and a happy fam- 
ily, and when even ten of us brothers and sisters 
could be gathered around the same well furnished 
table, or assembled at the domestic hearth;) and 
compare your condition in those earlier days with 
the situation in which you now find yourself. 
Then, surrounded with that large family, notwith- 
standing your cares and perplexities, you must 
have been measurably happy. Now, that family, 
how scattered! some snatched away by the ruth- 
less hand of death, just as they were entering upon 
life's eventful career, and others scattered in va- 
rious directions, settled in life and business, and 
no less than three of them become heads of fam- 
ilies and themselves responsible for the guardian- 
ship of infant minds! While you, fond mother, 
are left almost divested of the society of the many 
children you have reared. One only remains at 
home of all that numerous progeny. I hope my 
younger sister Amelia, is a good girl. I doubt not 
she is. 

But, mother, notwithstanding all these changes, 
how much you have to be thankful for. You still 
have eight children who cherish your love and re- 
member your many paternal acts of kindness and 
love with lively gratitude. The husband of your 
choice is still left to you. For forty years have 
you and he trod life's weary path together, and 
how many incidents of joy and sorrow, of hopes 
and fears, of vicissitude and congratulation, can 
you call to mind as having transpired in that time ! 

Kindest and best of mothers ! For one of your 
children, and he your first born, let me render an 
acknowledgement of gratitude and thanks to you 
for what you did for me, and implore pardon for 
all the grief I ever caused you. I can now most 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 231 

clearly see how I was too often a stubborn and 
wayward child, and how wrong it was to be so. I 
can remember how you taught me to lisp my 
A B C — how you taught me to write — how you 
clothed me neatly and cleanly and sent me to 
school, — and how you taught my tender mind the 
ways of goodness and virtue. Since I am now a 
parent, your anxious solicitude in all these things 
comes back to me with ten-fold weight. 

But my little sheet, which I took merely to say 
a word, reminds me that I must be brief. I fondly 
hope that many years of peace and quiet enjoy- 
ment are yet in store for you, and that I may yet 
many times greet you before we shall be parted 
on earth forever. Cheer up, my mother, and 
neither look mournfully upon the past nor de- 
spondingly toward the future. Feel and believe 
that all is and will be for the best, and that in the 
bright hereafter a sweet rest remaineth for the 
people of God. 

I will enclose you a trifle which I wish you to 
expend in that way which will make it afford you 
the most comfort. Don't lay it by, neither pur- 
chase anything to be laid up, but if you need any 
little dainty or luxury, buy it. I think you would 
find riding and exercising in the open air benefi- 
cial when the weather will admit of it. While I 
was sick this winter I made it a point to ride or 
walk out every opportunity, and I could see that I 
gained much faster than I did when I remained in- 
doors. Want of proper exercise and lacking the 
inhalation of pure air is exceedingly injurious to 
any one so debilitated as you are. Frequent bath- 
ing with tepid water is beneficial. Of course you 
know all this, but do not neglect these simple 
rules. Their observance is better than medicine. 

Liveria, little Mary and myself are all well, 
prosperous and happy, and send you much love. 
Your affectionate son, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



232 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

Accompanying the preceding letter was the fol- 
lowing one, written by Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth to 
her husband's mother: 

Holyoke, Mass., Feb. 26, 1854. 

Dear Mother: Well do I remember your kind- 
ness in making that large mat for me, and I know 
that it must have cost you many hours of hard 
labor. I thought when I received it that I should 
have recompensed you in a measure for it before 
this time. You will please accept this gold piece 
as so much towards it. I think very highly of the 
rug. It is praised by every one who sees it. 

Dear sister Mary; how deeply she is afflicted ! 
I truly sympathise with her, but no one can feel 
her loss as she does. I hope she may bow in 
humble submission, and feel to say : ' 'The Lord 
gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be 
the name of the Lord." Our Heavenly Father has 
undoubtedly some wise purpose in thus afflicting 
her and her husband. It may be the means of 
making them both much more engaged in the 
cause of religion. They will be more anxious to 
prepare themselves for a heavenly home, where 
they will meet their beloved child again. 

How I should like to see Almira keeping house, 
I presume she will make a good house-keeper. I 
desire much to see you all. If father Hildreth 
gives up the farm to Daniel you will be released 
cares, and then I shall hope to have a visit frOm 
you both. I want you to see our little Mary. You 
could not help loving her. I think hers is the 
sweetest disposition I ever knew. 

Affectionately your 

Liveria A. Hildreth. 



Holyoke, Mass., August 2, 1854. 

Mrs. Mary C. McCoy: 

My Dear Sister: I have just learned by a 
letter from father that sister Lovinia is very sick 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 233 

at your house. It is too bad that we live so far 
apart. Liveria would gladly go and render any 
assistance in her power, for she well knows what 
sickness is and how hard it must be for you, with 
your little babe, during this warm weather. How 
long has Lovinia been sick and what was the cause 
of it? We must all of us feel very grateful to 
Charles for the attention he has given her, to the 
sacrifice of his business; and while we so much 
regret the suffering and misfortune of Lovinia, we 
can but rejoice that she is in such good hands and 
so well cared for. We, dear sister, have all of us 
seen much of the trials and adversities of the 
world. Our afflictions cannot fail to wean our 
attachments from it, and lead us to regard of less 
value the transitory things of earth. These af- 
flctions are only for a season; let us bear them 
with fortitude and patience. There is a brighter 
world beyond the skies, and let us place our af- 
fections on things above rather than on the sordid 
things of earth. 

Dear Sister Lovinia: You can hardly compre- 
hend the deep anxiety we feel in your behalf. 
Poor father and mother are deeply grieved, while 
Liveria cannot keep you from her thoughts, for 
she has always had a deep interest in your wel- 
fare. I write this letter in my office. If there 
were time Liveria would write also. 

We know the tax it would be upon Mary to 
write, and still we shall await the next news with 
intense anxiety. If it is but a word, let some one 
write and tell us. if Lovinia is better. 

We are all in usual health, — as well as can be 
expected in such warm weather, — though Liveria 
has suffered considerably. Little Mary is very 
well, and, although I am not able to do much work 
yet, I keep about and attend to my business. 

Be as prudent and careful of your own health, 
dear sister, as you can. You know that you have 
not a strong constitution. Should your health 

30 



234 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

fail, unfortunate indeed would it be for your hus- 
band as well as yourself. 

Give our kindest regards to brother Charles, 
and believe me faithfully and affectionately, 

Your brother, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



Holyqke, Mass., August 13, 1854. 

My Dear Father: I have just received (from 
Chelsea) your letter of the 11th inst. I had be- 
come impatient to hear from sister Lovinia, and 
could not divine why no letter came. I was great- 
ly rejoiced to learn that my worst fears were not 
realized. You speak of removing Lovinia to Ver- 
mont. I think it would not be prudent at this 
time to do so. It is better to wait until she is 
quite recovered. If it is probable that she will 
get about again, she will be very weak for some 
time, and until gaining her strength, she cannot 
endure the fatigue of the journey, I fear. 

Poor Lovinia! How anxiously we hope she may 
recover. She has written me some excellent let- 
ters, in times past, which betrayed more than or- 
dinary intellectual faculties, and I was hoping to 
give her some aid in cultivating that intellect. 
With proper encouragement she would become 
useful to her race and an ornament to society. To 
be cut off in her early youth seems hard indeed. 
But whatever fate awaits her, or any of us, must 
be met with fortitude and patience. I hope, dear 
father, that you will bear up under your afflictions 
as well as you can. Believe that all will be for 
the best and feel resigned. , 

How is sister Harriet? You wrote before going 
to Lowell that she was in very poor health. Are 
Albert and his wife with you now? Is mother able 
to keep up and do some work? I hope so. 

We are all in usual health at this time. Little 
Mary grows finely. Business is dull and I have 
but little printing to do besides the newspaper and 
some job work. I expect more work during the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 235 

fall, and then shall have to employ more help. It 
is very healthy here this season. There is but 
little sickness, scarcely a death. 

We wish, very much, to receive a visit from you 
and mother, but unless Lovinia gets better I fear 
we shall be disappointed. I thank you for writing 
so often. I hope you will continue to do so, even 
if but a word. 

Liveria sends her kind regards to all, and little 
Mary sends her love as usual. She is three years 
old, and can spell easy words, and read in the 2d 
reader. She knows the multiplication table and 
can count one hundred. She says- that she will 
pick you some berries when you come to see her. 
Yours, affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Holyoke, Mass., Sept. 23, 1855. 

My Dear Father and Mother: It seems a long 
time since I have heard from you, and perhaps 
you will say the same of me. I have delayed writ- 
ing for several reasons, the principal of which is, 
that I have expected to be able to write something 
more definite about my affairs than I can at this 
time. I have decided to remove early in the 
spring to the interior of the State of Iowa, beyond 
the Mississippi; provided I can sell out to advan- 
tage. I am aware, my dear parents, that this 
news will cause you some feelings of regret, and 
on your account I dislike to go so far; although if 
life and health are spared, I apprehend that I may 
see you nearly as often as now. 

The place to which I expect to go is St. Charles, 
(Charles City,) Floyd county, Iowa, situated on 
Cedar river, about 80 miles beyond the Mississippi 
river. It is a shire town, (County Seat) only about 
one year old, oivned by eight men; has two saw 
mills, a flour mill, two hotels, several stores and 
mechanics' shops, and is being rapidly built up. 
Father Knight was there this summer, and the 
town proprietors, (four of whom live in Rockford. 



236 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

111. , ) have offered him the agency of the whole 
town property, if he will settle there. They offer 
me two lots, one for a house and one for a printing 
office and store, and several hundred dollars to- 
wards expense of moving, if I will go. Three of 
father Knight's sons-in-law — one in Ellsworth, 
Me,, one in Charlestown, Mass., and myself, will 
go. I have visited them all since I saw you and 
discussed the matter with them pretty thoroughly. 
Brother Stone, of Charlestown, Mass., has already 
sold out and will start in a few weeks, and be put- 
ting up a house this winter. Father Knight is in- 
tending to go with him. I intend to go in March 
or April, and brother Waterhouse, a lawyer in 
Ellsworth, Me. , will go in June. 

Now all this may fall through, but it is not likely 
to. If I do not like St. Charles I shall look for 
some other place, and if none suit me I will return 
to New England a wiser if not happier man. 

My dear parents, do you blame me for trying 
the experiment, when you consider how I have 
always struggled against the jealous rivalry of 
older and better established business men in the 
places where I have lived, and instead of a com- 
bined effort for each other's prosperity, a constant 
effort to keep down all rivals in business. With 
1200.00 I can buy, in Iowa, 160 acres of as hand- 
some and good land as the eye ever beheld; and 
this I shall do the first favorable opportunity after 
arriving there, whether I cultivate it or not. 
Should I fail to sell out here, of course I shall not 
go. But I think that I shall have but little diffi- 
culty in effecting a sale to some one. 

Liveria, little Mary and I went the next week 
after leaving you, to Ellsworth, Maine; were there 
four days, and then spent about a week in Boston. 
It was good weather all the time, and we had a 
delightful journey; excepting that Liveria was 
very sea- sick on the Maine coast. Mary and I 
enjoyed it very much, and we all find our health 
much improved by the journey. Since returning, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 237 

my business in the printing office has been very 
good, and were some other things here to my lik- 
ing I should hesitate more about leaving. 

I have corresponded with the marble dealer 
about the headstone for Lovinia's grave. He has 
agreed to have the stone done this week, and car- 
ry it to Chelsea soon and have it set up. He is 
intending to exhibit the work at the Woodstock 
Fair this week. His name is John G. Stevens, at 
Hartland 4-corners, Vt. Write to him if neces- 
sary. I have paid him in full. 

Dear father and mother, it is a source of great 
enjoyment to me to know that I have your confi- 
dence and love. All your many kindly teachings 
and your deep solicitude for my welfare in infancy 
and youth and riper years are thought over and 
over again in my moments of quiet, and periods of 
meditation. To your moral and religious teach- 
ings I feel that I owe much of whatever may be 
claimed for me in purity of morals and integrity 
of character, and I mention it that you may have 
some assurance from a grateful son of his appre- 
ciation of your high aims and holy purposes in the 
rearing of your family. 

I shall go as a delegate to the Whig State Con- 
vention at Worcester next week. The State, how- 
ever, may elect a Democrat for Governor. There 
will be four tickets, and plurality elects. 

Enclosed I send you ten dollars towards paying 
for the butter. Let me know what the two firkins 
come to and I will send the balance. We want 
them sent down the last of October. 

Let us know how brother Daniel is prospering. 
Liveria and Mary send their love to you all. 
Your affectionate son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Holyoke, Feb. 24, 1856. 

My Dear Father: How did you get home after 
your journey to Boston and Lowell? Well, I hope. 



238 PERSONAL LETTERS OP 

We arrived home last Thursday in good health, 
although Liveria was very much fatigued. Little 
Mary endured the journey well. We found our 
house all right. On the day we left Lowell for 
Boston we had a tedious time. We did not arrive 
in Boston till half past two o'clock in the night; 
being twelve hours on the road. The snow on the 
track was badly drifted, and part of the way we 
had six engines. Mr. Cuttings' train and ours and 
the five o'clock train were all stuck in the snow 
five miles from Lowell, and finally the three trains 
were taken into Boston together a little past mid- 
night. While blocked in the snow we were near a 
farm house and succeeded in obtaining a good 
supper. At Boston we found lodgings at a hotel 
near Hay-market Square. We had a pleasant 
journey home from Boston, and regretted that you 
did not accompany us. It was a source of great 
satisfaction to meet you in Boston, and that grati- 
fication would have been essentially heightened 
could mother have been with you. I hardly ex- 
pected to find you so well and active, and it seems 
now that our visit was not half completed. Still, 
I am very thankful for it, and hope that it proved 
both a pleasure and benefit to you. 

It is probable that I shall not spend many years 
at the West. Although the facilities there for 
making money are much greater than they are 
here, the enjoyments of a New England home will 
ever seem to me much sweeter than those of a 
home in the West. I trust that I shall often see 
New England and as often visit my parents and 
friends in Vermont, should life and health be 
spared. 

Were my parents younger I should urge them to 
remove to the West also, but at your advanced 
age I can hardly think it advisable. My ardent 
wish is that you may pass the remainder of life as 
calmly and sweetly as possible. Do not allow out- 
ward or surrounding influences to disturb the 
quiet of your minds. There may yet be much of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 239 

happiness in store for you if you but resolve that 
it shall be so. 

Since my return from the West the people here 
greet me most cordially. Many urge me to buy 
back the press and give them a good paper again, 
while all are anxious to learn about the Great 
West. 

We were much pleased with our visit in Lowell 
and Boston. Indeed, every where our friends 
strove to render us happy. Let us hear from you 
soon. Little Mary talks much of Grandpa. She 
and Liveria send their love. 

Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Holyoke, Mass., Feb. 24, 1855. 

Dear Mother: Your excellent letter of the 8th 
inst. was promptly handed me by father when I 
met him in Boston. But, dear mother, you can 
hardly imagine how disappointed we all were at 
not seeing you. We had excellent visits all around, 
and it seemed too bad that you could not partici- 
pate in them with us. But perhaps it is as well. 
The weather was some of the time cold and stormy, 
and you might not have endured the journey well, 
although in good weather I think journeying 
would be very beneficial to you. You suggest that 
you may never see us again. I trust that we may 
yet meet many times. The journey between here 
and the West to me seems very slight. Should 
life and health be spared I expect often to see my 
friends in New England. Indeed, I may return 
after a few years and take up my permanent abode 
here at the East. But be where I may, I shall 
never forget the scenes of early youth, and espe- 
cially my parents and brothers and sisters. 

My hopes and prospects in the West are very 
flattering — so much so that I felt it a duty when 
there to avail myself of the inducements present- 
ed. The country in and all around St. Charles is 



240 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

all that man can ask — beautiful and lovely in the 
extreme. The people there appear to be of good 
character, and as to business, I apprehend the 
only trouble will be to answer the demands of the 
public. The proprietors of the town presented me 
two town lots, several hundred dollars in cash, and 
are to furnish a list of five hundred newspaper 
subscribers at two dollars each ($1000.00) payable 
in advance. Besides this, I purchased two resi- 
dence lots on which I intend to build a house. I 
also purchased forty acres of woodland near town 
to supply me with fencing" and firewood. On my 
return I intend to purchase some good prairie land 
sufficient to make me a good farm. 

Now, if I could have all these in New England I 
would never go to Iowa; but this cannot be. Li- 
veria sent you five dollars by father to pay for the 
dried apple. He is to pack one or two barrels and 
the apple can be sent in them, also the skirt Ame- 
lia is making. 

I had a good journey to the West, although I 
suffered greatly at times from the cold, and some- 
times found miserable accommodations. On the 
whole, I like the West. The time will soon come 
when it will be the greatest country and possess 
the mightiest people in the world. It is lament- 
able that so lovely a country should so long be the 
property of, and be occupied solely by, thriftless 
Indians. St. Charles is the site of an Indian vil- 
lage, lately occupied by the Winnebagoes. 

But my sheet is full. Write us often. Liveria 
and little Mary send their affectionate regards, 
also Your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles, Iowa., July 21, 1857. 

My Dear Mother: You can hardly realize how 
much I think of you. I would that you and father 
should have all the comforts of life. 

You know, dear mother, that I have seen much 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 241 

of this world's bitterness; and although I may not 
now be wholly freed from it, still, at this time, 
fortune seems to favor me. I am acquiring some 
property, but am constantly in want of money. It 
requires a good deal to keep my business in suc- 
cessful operation. In the course of a few years 
I hope to close up and retire from business. 
Whether I shall then go East to spend my days or 
remain in the West will depend upon circumstances 
at that time. Should you and father, or either of 
you, be alive at that time, be assured you will not 
be forgotten, and what can be done for your bene- 
fit, consistent with duty to my own family, most 
certainly will be done. Were you and father 
younger I should like to have you live in the West. 

We have our house nicely fitted up and fur- 
nished, and the most valued article in it is the 
beautiful rug which you made and gave to Liveria. 
lji> is placed in the parlor. As I have sat there and 
gazed upon it, I have thought how industriously 
your feeble fingers were plied to make it, and how 
generous and kind you were to give it to us. It 
seems more beautiful every time I look at it. We 
shall ever keep it as a rich memento of your gen- 
erosity and love. 

I shall try to see you in August, and shall hope 
to find you all prosperous and happy. Do not al- 
low yourselves to be deprived of whatever will 
conduce to your comfort. You and father have 
fully earned it, and it should not be denied you. 

Liveria and Mary send their kindest regards 
and love to you both. 

Affectionately your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Oct. 3, 1857. 

My Dear Father and Mother: I arrived at home 
from my eastern journey last evening. Your let- 
ter of July 25th is here. I find Liveria's health 



31 



242 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

about the same as usual. But our little Mary will 
not be with us long. She is a mere skeleton. Con- 
sumption, or marasmus, has wasted her flesh away. 
The sight of her in her wasted condition has so 
grieved me that I have no peace of mind, and it 
seems impossible to calm my feelings. I did not 
know till now how much I love her. She is able 
to be up and go about the house some, but it is 
hoping against hope to expect her recovery. She 
talks of dying — talks of heaven — and is anxious to 
go there. She has very clear perception of what 
it is to be a Christian, How fleeting and evanes- 
cent are all the bright and beautiful things, the 
joys and blessings, of this transitory world. 

Father, I hope your health has improved, and 
that you and mother are very comfortable. My 
own health, at best, is precarious, still I manage 
to do a large amount of work. 

Our town has grown some since I went East; 
business is pretty good; but the money panic is 
felt. It will make a great difference with me, and 
I must practise the closest economy. Still, I hope 
to weather the storm. 

Time will not permit me to write more at this 
time. Let us hear from you often. Liveria and 
Mary send love. Affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1857. 

My Dear Parents: Your letter of October 24th 
came yesterday. I had begun to fear that father 
was sick. Ever since my visit with you last sum- 
mer I have felt very anxious about his health. I 
feared that the calomel system of doctoring was 
injurious. He was billious and it appeared to me 
that the difficulty should be removed by gentle 
purgatives of a vegetable and less harmful nature. 
I hope that some doctor may be employed who can 
treat his case successfully. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 243 

Dear father, your children all know, and no one 
more than myself, how much you have desired to 
live and die a Christian. Most certainly have you 
striven to make available that promise : ' 'Be thou 
faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of 
life." Your faithful instruction and advice to me 
at all times have not been wholly disregarded, and 
although I have come far short of duty, without 
your counsel I might have done worse. I trust 
that everything will be done for your comfort pos- 
sible, and that you may soon be restored to com- 
paratively good health. 

My dear mother, you need much of Christian 
fortitude to sustain" you in your many trials, and I 
cannot doubt that this support is yours. What- 
ever awaits us all in the future, let us be resigned. 
— trusting in that good God who doeth all things 
well. Let us look with fond hope to that period 
when we, a once united and happy family, now 
broken in fragments, may be again united in the 
heavenly mansions above. 

Loved parents: afflictions are all around us. 
Our dear little Mary; she on whom our hopes have 
centered, and in whom we have taken so much de- 
light, must soon pass to the spirit world. We 
have had a counsel of doctors and they pronounce 
her disease incurable. She, some days ago, made 
up her mind that she must die, and has many 
times conversed with us freely upon the subject. 
Her intellect is remarkably active and clear, and 
she seems to have unusual perceptions of what it 
is to be a Christian. She has, of her own accord, 
made a disposition of all her little trinkets, dolls, 
play-things, dresses, &c, of which she had many, 
and converses as calmly upon death and heaven as 
one of maturer years. She was too low and feeble 
to talk much when your letter came, but we shall 
renew the subject to her at periods when she is 
better able to converse. For the last two days 
she has been exceedingly low. She can scarcely 
support herself on her feet, so weak has she be- 



244 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

come. Her flesh is almost wholly wasted, and her 
hands are like bird's claws. Still her voice is 
strong and her lungs are not badly affected. Her 
disease is termed marasmus, a species of consump- 
tion, but instead of the tuberculous matter lodging 
in the lungs, it is in various other parts of the 
system, clogging its healthy action, rendering in- 
active and dormant the digestive organs, so that 
the body derives little or no nourishment from 
food — consequently her emaciation. She is the 
most patient sufferer I ever beheld. Her young 
friends are continually visiting her, for they all 
love her, and it appears to be a great consolation 
to have them call. 

Oh, my father and mother, how much is there of 
grief and woe in this transitory world. You know 
how deeply have I drank of the bitter cup of sor- 
row. All this has tended to wean me from the 
world, and although I am constantly striving to be 
useful and provide for passing wants, yet when I 
am called to go hence I think I can leave the 
world with few regrets. I know that I come far 
short of duty and yet I desire to live acceptably to 
my Father in Heaven. 

Liveria is nearly worn down with watching and 
anxiety; and the thought that soon we must be 
childless makes us sad indeed. 

Please have no anxiety about my financial af- 
fairs. They are sound. Our income will be great- 
ly reduced for the coming year, but we are pro- 
vided with sufficient means to prosecute our busi- 
ness successfully. Provisions are cheap and we 
have an abundance to live upon. 

Remember us kindly to all friends. Liveria 
sends her love. Little Mary "hopes to meet her 
grandparents in heaven. " 

Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. P. Hildreth. 



azro b. f. hildreth. 245 

St. Charles City, Iowa, Nov. 29, 1857. 

My Dear Parents: I feel very anxious to hear 
from you. Is there no one who can write me 
often? I have written two letters, and' this is the 
third, without answer. 

Our little Mary is yet alive. But we are look- 
ing almost daily for her departure to the world of 
spirits. Her mother cannot make up her mind to 
lose her, and watches by her constantly night and 
day. Poor Liveria! her heart will break when 
our beloved child is gone. Mary retains all her 
mental faculties in a wonderful degree, but she is 
as helpless as an infant. Liveria is well nigh sick, 
worn down with watching, anxiety and care. 

We have no financial troubles, and could our 
Mary be restored we should indeed be a happy 
family. But this cannot be. 

We have had a little snow, but it is now all 
gone, and there is little or no frost in the ground. 
Last night we had a smart rain. Provisions here 
are abundant and cheap. Labor is in demand at 
good wages. We spent two days in driving about 
the country to find a girl to do housework, and 
finally got a poor stick. Fifty girls are needed 
here in good families at large wages. What a 
pity that the starving millions at the East cannot 
come West where they are so much needed. 

Monday Morning, Nov. 30, 1857. 

Our poor little Mary died this morning, a few 
minutes past midnight, calm and peaceful, without 
a struggle or groan. Her intellect was clear and 
bright to the last. She had made all her arrange- 
ments for dying. She told "papa" to give grand- 
mother and grandfather Hildreth her love, and 
say she should meet them in heaven. She wished 
to send grandmother something, and finally wished 
her to have one of her gold dollars. 

Rev. I. D. Rust (Methodist) formerly of Ver- 
mont, now of Floyd, this county, is expected to 
preach her funeral sermon at our house tomorrow 
at one o'clock — Text, "Of such is the kingdom of 



246 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

heaven." She will be buried in our garden, on 
land bought in part with her money and deeded to 
her mother. Precious treasure, gone forever! 
Oh, what a blank is in our home! 

My poor Liveria is borne down with sorrow. 
Do write soon. 

Your bereaved son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Iowa, Dec. 13, 1857. 

My Dear Father: Your letter of the 29th ult, was 
received yesterday, and afforded us the greatest 
pleasure. I had written to you three times, and 
had begun to feel exceedingly anxious about your 
health. To know that you are able to write and 
that your health is no worse, is very gratifying. 
I do hope there is medical skill enough in some of 
the doctors to cure your disease, or at least help 
you in some degree. 

It has not been the lot of every family to have 
such a faithful guardain and protector as you have 
been. As for me, 1 am grateful that my early 
training was under such hallowed influences; and 
I know, my dear father and mother, that such 
early teachings ivill cling to the future man, no 
matter what adverse influences may at times sur- 
round him. 

You ask if "little Mary has gone to return no 
more." Yes. At the very time you wrote those 
words her sainted spirit was preparing to wing its 
flight to the realms of immortal bliss. During the 
whole of that day (Sunday Nov. 29th) there was a 
marked change, both in her physical and intellec- 
tual appearance. Her limbs were swollen, and it 
was evident that death was doing its last work. 
Her intellect, however, was remarkably clear and 
active, and she conversed much more than she had 
done for several days previously. She gave re- 
peated directions about all her things — clothing, 
toys, books, &c, &c, and talked of death and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 247 

heaven as calmly as if she were about to take a 
pleasant journey. Her mother, being worn down 
with watching, care and anxiety, she repeatedly 
urged her to take rest — to lie on the bed with her 
— saying papa could take care of her. Seeing her 
mother in tears, she asked: "Mother, what makes 
you cry so?" The cause being explained to her, 
she said: "Why, mama, I am not afraid to die. 
God will take Mary home to heaven, and He will 
take you and papa too, if you are good. If you 
are good you will go to heaven too," and she 
would urge her mother not to feel badly. I went 
into the office to write a letter when, missing me, 
she sent for me. When I entered the house Mary 
called me into her bedroom and urged me not to 
leave her. Sometimes I had slept up stairs; but 
now she said: "Papa, I want you should stay 
with me all the time — don't go away. I want you 
and mother should stay here all night." Urging 
her mother to get rest, she repeatedly remarked : 
"I shall rest to-night." Looking up to her mother, 
she exclaimed: "Why, that's singing! I can sleep 
and sing too." Again opening her eyes, she asked: 
"Wasn't that singing?" We heard nothing, but no 
doubt she did. She continued to converse ration- 
ally till half past eleven o'clock at night, when 
she appeared to go to sleep. She apparently slept 
sweetly till at length her mother, in feeling of her 
limbs, thought her arm fell heavily; after which 
she gasped but a few times, and all tvas over! 

Thus, without a struggle or a groan, peacefully 
and calmly, the freed spirit of our angel Mary 
passed from earth to heaven. "I shall rest to- 
night," she said. So she did! 

My poor Liveria! It seems as if her heart were 
broken. She mourns continually. All the events 
of Mary's history — the trials of her birth — the 
anxious and incessant watchings over her infancy 
through many scenes of sickness, as well as health 
— the hope and joy and fear, as we have watched 
the development of her intellect, and noted the 



248 PERSONAL LETTERS OP 

frailty of her physical system — all these, and 
more, came rushing upon my dear Liveria's mind, 
and will not depart. The many plans, calculations 
and hopes for Mary's future, are now all forever 
blasted, and life seems a blank, a dreary waste, 
possessing no charms, no enjoyments. 

Mary's funeral was largely attended. We sent 
to Floyd, six miles above here, for Rev. I. D. Rust, 
(Methodist) formerly of Vermont, to preach a ser- 
mon in our house, from the text, Mark 10th, 14th: 
' 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
God." The sermon was remarkably appropriate 
and impressive. There were many children pres- 
ent, and occasion was taken to hold up to them the 
example of little Mary's life, which was so full of 
goodness, of piety and filial affection. Our house 
was more than filled with people. We buried our 
precious treasure in our garden, on the ground 
where we intend to build our future home. Four 
young men were the bearers, one of whom is a 
nurseryman and set out trees in the garden last 
spring. Little Mary was very busy at the time, 
helping him carry the little trees to plant, one of 
which now stands at the foot of her grave. We 
received every attention, and were shown the 
highest respect and kindness, by the citizens of 
St. Charles, and we feel more endeared to them 
now than ever before. 

This morning Liveria and I walked up to see 
Mary's grave. It is a lovely day — very spring- 
like — and there is hardly snow enough to whiten 
the ground. For several days I have had many 
fears for Liveria's health, but for the last day or 
two she has seemed better, and I fondly trust that 
time, the great panacea for a bruised heart, will 
ere long restore her to usual health and quietude. 
We have a girl to help in the house and board 
three of our printers. 

The times here are called hard, but I think our 
people are better off now than they were last win- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 249 

ter. We have lost some by bad debts, but are 
able to meet all our bills, and have no apprehen- 
sion for the future. 

Liveria could not write any letters while Mary 
was sick, and since her death she has not felt able 
to write. I trust that she will, however, before 
long. 

Mary thought much of meeting her grandpa- 
rents in heaven, and of seeing us all there here- 
after. In taking her first, God may have designed 
it for our good. The bud which we have nurtured 
and cherished He has transplanted to a more per- 
fect garden, where it may blossom around His 
throne, and we be permitted to behold it with an 
eye of faith, enjoying the glorious hope, mean- 
while, of a blissful re-union in that bright abode 
beyond the skies. How impressive the truth, 
''This world is not our home!" 

Your affectionate son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Feb. 21, 1858. 

My Dear Father and Mother: Your letters of 
February 7th came to hand three days since. We 
are exceedingly gratified to learn of your contin- 
ued improved health. The medicine we recom- 
mended will benefit you both. Father should be 
attentive to the digestive organs — eat such food as 
can be easily digested and will not tend to create 
billious trouble. Too much medicine of a power- 
ful nature is only an injury. 

Mother, we wish you would write often, if but a 
few words. You can hardly realize the pleasure 
it affords us to receive your letters. That familiar 
writing looks the same as it did when you used to 
write copies in my writing book in the days of my 
early youth. Alas! ive have no child for whom to 
write copies now. Little Mary had a nice writing 
book and had begun to learn writing. She would 
have made a handsome writer. 

32 



250 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

We are living very comfortably and pleasantly 
this winter. Our family is small— Liveria and I 
and two printer boys — only four of us. Mr. Car- 
ver boards at his father's. Business is rather dull 
and money scarce. There are no banks of issue 
in this State and when the Eastern banks suspend- 
ed, people here were afraid to keep their money; 
consequently it was nearly all sent out of the 
State. "We anticipate better times next season. 
There is not snow enough here for good sleighing. 
The winter has been remarkably mild and pleas- 
ant. 

Liveria sends a few dollars for you both. Use 
the money to procure some luxuries to eat — some- 
thing that you can relish. She would send a larg- 
er bill, but we have no other that will pass in Ver- 
mont. I hope sister Amelia will be prudent and 
wise in her matrimonial affairs. Love, not guided 
by judgment and discretion, is poor material to 
sustain one in after years. Let us know about 
Almira and Albert. How is it with Daniel's af- 
fairs? 

Liveria' s health is much better than it was some 
weeks ago, and my own health is excellent for me. 
Were our dear Mary with us we should indeed be 
happy. We have a comfortable home and a good 
business to support us. Liveria will write as soon 
as convenient. She sends her kindest regards to 
you both. Let us hear from you often. 

Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Iowa, April 25, 1858. 

My Dear Mother: Your very kind and excellent 
letter of the 4th inst. came duly to hand, and its 
contents were perused with the greatest satisfac- 
tion and enjoyment. You apologize for not being 
able to write well, but if you knew the pride I feel 
in showing your writing to some of my friends, 
that they may see how beautifully my aged moth- 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 251 

er can write, she who was educated in early times 
and is a type of ancient days, yon would never 
apologize more. Not one-third of the people of 
the present day can write so handsomely and so 
accurately as you can. Oh, my dear mother, you 
can hardly imagine how much, in my quiet mo- 
ments, I reflect upon the scenes of my childhood 
and youth. When I visited you last summer the 
memories that came rushing upon my mind were 
beyond utterance, and I regretted exceedingly 
that I was compelled to make my stay so short. 
As it was, I was gone quite too long from home; 
and when I returned, the sight of my poor emaci- 
ated Mary, which in an instant told me that death 
would in a few days bear her forever from my 
sight, so completely overwhelmed me with grief 
that my mind has not yet, and probably never will 
resume its wonted buoyancy. She was our all. 
It was for her that we toiled and. strove on. She 
is gone, and we now have hardly an incentive to 
make an effort at anything. If ever mortal man 
drank deep the bitter cup of affliction I feel that I 
am that man. Of property I have enough. I have 
a few debts to cancel, and I am adjusting them as 
fast as possible. Already I feel that I am an old 
man. I have no ambition for fame or wealth, and 
only desire that my setting sun may go down in 
quietude and peace; it may be in this Western 
world, and it may be in my own loved New Eng- 
land. 

You, my mother and father, have endured many, 
very many, trials and afflictions. Children, born 
to you, have grown up and have been called to the 
eternal world before you. You have suffered and 
toiled and struggled against many adversities, and 
yet, notwithstanding all these, you have much to 
thank God for. For nearly a half century you 
have lived together in the full enjoyment of each 
other's society, upon the same farm and in the 
same dwelling house, and even now are doing so. 
What a green old age is yours! Be to" each other 



252 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

a comfort, a stay and a staff, and in the Lord's 
good time He will take you to rest in his bright 
kingdom above. There may we all meet around 
his heavenly throne to part no more forever. 

Liveria and I do not either of us find ourselves 
enjoying very good health this spring. Liveria 
has many of her old complaints hanging about 
her, while a rheumatic difficulty has troubled me 
for some time. I have attended to my business, 
but some of the time I have not been able to do 
much on account of the pain I have suffered. Even 
now, as I write, I am in constant pain. 

We earnestly hope that you and father may find 
improved health as the milder weather advances. 
We hope that you do not lack anything which will 
promote your comfort or happiness. I am glad to 
hear from my brothers and sisters, and learn of 
their domestic and business affairs. The mention 
that Daniel is making sugar reminded me of those 
earlier days when I used to engage in the same 
work. We have had a little maple sugar here; 
paid twenty cents per pound for it. There are 
many maple trees along the Cedar river, but the 
people do not give much attention to sugar- mak- 
ing. 

You speak of the opening spring and how 
pleased little children are at this season of the 
year with all the opening beauties of nature. It 
is ever so. Every little wild flower upon the prai- 
rie reminds us of that little opening bud of prom- 
ise which was blasted so untimely by the chill 
hand of death, and left our home desolate. It was 
only last night, in my dream, that Mary sat in my 
lap, with her tiny arms clasped about my neck, 
bestowing upon me her sweetest kisses and charm- 
ing me with her blissful prattle. Happy dream! 
I almost regretted that it did not last alway. 

We anticipated an early spring, but the month 
of April has been rainy and cold, and planting 
will not come on much earlier than usual. People 
complain that money is scarce and business dull. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 253 

We are hoping for better times, but all is yet un- 
certain. 

I must entreat you both to write us often. Li- 
veria does not feel able to write to-day, but she 
will do so before long. She sends her best wishes. 
Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 

P. S. Enclosed is ten dollars. It is for you 
and father to buy you some little comfort or luxu- 
ry, and be sure that you use it for that and noth- 
ing else. a. b. f. h. 



St. Charles City, Nov. 25, 1858. 

My Dear Sister Amelia: I have just received 
your letter of the 16th inst. informing me of the 
death of our dear father. The news has almost 
overpowered me, it was so sudden and unexpect- 
ed. I had fondly anticipated seeing him again on 
earth, but, alas, it is not so to be. How I wish 
that I could have been near him in his last days, 
and contributed at least a little towards smoothing 
his path to the grave. But his work is done, and 
I trust well done. He was a kind parent; he loved 
his family; he loved me. With all his faults he 
was an honest man and a Christian. Let this be 
inscribed upon his monument: ki An honest man 
and a Christian." 

My dearest mother: how can I write you under 
our present afflictions and bereavement? That 
you will have the sympathy and kindness of all 
your children and friends there is no doubt; but 
you have need of all the fortitude and consolation 
which religion can bring, and for these you can 
only look to that God who doeth all things well. 
For forty -five years have you and the companion 
of your choice lived in the same house and home 
— and oh! what scenes and events have transpired 
during that time to rend the heart, grieve the 
affections, and teach us how transitory and fleet- 
ing are all things here below! A large family of 



254 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

children have been born and reared in that old 
home — some of whom remain, and some have gone 
to. the eternal world. 

I can hardly realize that my father, whom I so 
much loved, has gone, gone forever, from my 
sight. How rapidly and clearly do the thousand 
events of the past rush in succession before my 
mind's eye! 

Dear mother, be patient, be resigned, and trust 
in God, who careth for all his children. 

I shall start next Monday morning for Des 
Moines, to attend the session of the State Board of 
Education, to be absent about a month; distance, 
over two hundred miles. Lieut. Governor Faville 
will be here to-morrow night, stop over Sunday 
with us, and on Monday morning we shall start 
with two horses and carriage across the prairies 
for the State capital. I wish you would write me 
at Des Moines, Iowa, giving me all the particulars 
of father's death and funeral. I will write you 
from there. Liveria will write you in a few days, 
and she wants you should write her, also, giving 
her as many particulars as you can. She sympa- 
thises with you deeply in your affliction. Her 
health is poor, and so is mine, and we feel that 
soon we shall all be done with this world. May 
we all eventually meet in the paradise of God. 

Our little Mary will now find her anticipations 
realized. She was sure that she would meet her 
grandpa Hildreth in heaven. 

In father's will he mentioned a few articles that 
he wished me to have. I wish them to be well 
taken care of, and whenever I can visit that old 
home of my youth I will take them. I am willing 
my carriage should be used if it is well cared for. 
I intend to have it shipped to Iowa when oppor- 
tunity offers. Were it here now I would go to Des 
Moines with it. We have snow enough to whiten 
the ground but the earth is not much frozen. 

Sister Amelia: tell us when you expect to be 
married, and what are your future plans. Was 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 255 

mother at home when father was taken sick? You 
spoke in your former letter about her visiting Har- 
riet. Were Charles and Mary at the funeral? 
Was the funeral at the house, and who preached? 
Give us the text and all the particulars. 

I trust, my sister, that you will find a good 
home, and, (if you marry,) a kind and worthy hus- 
band. I know that you are yet of tender years, 
and that you must indeed feel lonely. There is a 
severe world before you, but I hope and trust that 
you will be able to bear all its burdens with forti- 
tude and cheerfulness. . 

My brothers and sisters, all, let the lesson 
taught in the death of our dear father sink deep in 
your hearts. Be kind and affectionate, one to- 
wards another, and cheer and comfort each other 
through this world of trials and troubles, and 
above all take good care of that dearest of moth- 
ers who is yet left to us. 

Affectionately, your brother, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, Iowa, Dec. 7, 1858. 

Dear Mother Hildreth: With a heavy heart I 
write you at this time. How to offer you consola- 
tion in your present grief, I know not; for when I 
lost my dear little Mary I thought the affliction 
almost more than I could bear, and yet I know how 
much heavier your affliction must be, in the death 
of good father Hildreth. I do truly and sincerely 
sympathize with you in your bereavement. The 
many amiable qualities of our dear father, joined 
with that deep Christian humility and reliance on 
his Savior, which he evinced in life, while they 
make our loss the heavier, should lead us to recol- 
lect that the loss is ours only; that prepared, as 
he was, to die, it was his unspeakable gain to be 
removed from a world in which he had many sor- 
rows. Your separation from him will only be for 
a short time, and until He who has hidden him 



256 PERSONAL LETTERS OP 

from your eyes shall restore you to his society in 
a happy and eternal home. 

God never smites his children in vain, or out of 
cruelty. His severest stripes are intended for our 
good, and he has, doubtless, a wise purpose for 
you both in thus taking him from your side, and 
leaving you in this world, with Himself as your 
Protector. He is very merciful to us always, and 
deals kindly with us, when we cast our cares on 
Him alone, and are sensible of our utter helpless- 
ness. This was your husband's comfort, it should 
be yours; and thus may both he and you have oc- 
casion for unspeakable joy hereafter, if the mys- 
terious dispensation which has deprived you of 
your companion, serving to bring you to a closer 
communion with your God. I do believe that fath- 
er lived and died a Christian. He was faithful 
unto death, and will receive a crown of life. 

Frank and I shall think often of you, Mother, 
and wish that we might be near you to assist in 
comforting you in your old age. 

If we did not live so far away we should insist 
upon your coining and staying with us as long as 
it would be your pleasure to do so. I suppose you 
will never be able to take so long a journey. 

We hope to see you again in this world, but if 
we are not permitted that pleasure, God grant 
that we may so live that we shall meet in that 
world where all the good and faithful meet. 

Frank is now nearly two hundred miles away. 
I feel very anxious about him for he was quite un- 
well when he left home. He had a bad cough. 

My health is not good, although I do all my 
work. 

Please give my love to Amelia; I wish she would 
come and see us. I think she will miss father 
more than the other children, because she seems 
to be left alone, with you at home. Dear sister: 
I hope she will ere long have a good home of her 
own, with one who will kindly love and protect 
her. I hope she will write us often. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 257 

We have a great deal of snow here now, and the 
mails are very irregular. If I could know that 
this letter would go direct to you, I would put a 
trifle of money into it for you. I think it would 
not be safe to send money at present in a letter. 

Please write often. We shall miss father's let- 
ters very much. 

Yours very affectionately, 

LlVERIA A. HlLDRETH. 

P. S. I did not say where Frank had gone, but 
I think we wrote Amelia that he was going to Des 
Moines to be absent until the first of January. He 
is one of the members of the State Board of Edu- 
cation. L. A. H. 

Note. — Within less than three weeks after Mrs. Hildreth 
wrote the foregoing letter to her mother Hildreth in Vermont, 
her own mother, Mrs. Betsey Knight, died suddenly, in Charles 
City, of heart disease. The sad event occurred on Christmas 
night, 1858, while Mr. Hildreth was absent in Des Moines. — Ed. 



Senate Chamber, Des Moines, Dec. 7, 1858. 

My Dear Mother: In the midst of your affliction 
and mine, it may afford you some consolation to 
receive a line from your oldest and now far distant 
son, and learn that he is enjoying health and pros- 
perity. Without solicitation or exertion of mine I 
am honored by my adopted State of Iowa with a 
position in regard to its public affairs highly flat- 
tering and important. You will perceive on perus- 
ing the documents which I shall send you that 
my position and associations are with the first and 
best men of the State. The member of the State 
Board of Education who occupies the seat next to 
me is Judge Mason of Keokuk, who was Commis- 
sioner of Patents at Washington under President 
Pierce. My room-mate is Lieut. Governor Faville, 
whose home is in Mitchell county, and who accom- 
panied me on the journey to this place. My daily 
and almost hourly associates are the various State 
Officers, such as the Governor, Secretary of State, 

33 



258 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney, &c, as well as the 
different members of the Board of Education. 

One remarkable circumstance has this moment 
come to my knowledge, showing what remarkable 
changes take place in the history and circum- 
stances of men. I find that G. P. Kimball, a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education here, is a son of 
Rev. William Kimball who formerly lived in our 
school district in Vermont, and whose older child- 
ren were my school-mates. How singular that 
this young Kimball, born on the old farm in our 
school district and myself should meet here on the 
prairies of Iowa, and both as members of the State 
Board of Education, engaged in framing the school 
laws of the State! 

Yesterday the Secretary of State laid upon my 
desk a beautiful four-blade Congress knife and a 
gold pen, each costing three to four dollars. My 
pay is three dollars per day and three dollars for 
every twenty miles of travel, which will amount to 
about one hundred and seventy dollars. The time 
consumed will be about one month. 

I hope to receive here a letter from you or Ame- 
lia, when I will write again. 

Affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Milwaukee, Wis., April 12, 1859. 

My Dear Mother: Having a few leisure moments, 
I know not how I can better improve them than 
by writing to you, a mother who was ever kind to 
me, and who at all times has been remembered 
with grateful affection. I went to Chicago on Sat- 
urday and returned here yesterday. In Chicago, 
(at the residence of J. C. Shepley, formerly of 
Bradford, Vt.,) I saw Col. Kent, formerly of Wells 
River, Wm. Barron, Mr. Greenough and wife, of 
Bradford. From them I learned the news about 
Bradford and the friends there. In Milwaukee I 
have just met Moses Prichard of Janesville, Wis., 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 259 

son of Col. Geo. Prichard of Bradford; and Alpbe- 
us C. May, son of Col. May of West Fairlee, Vt. 
All the above named are Vermonters. Thus you 
see eastern people everywhere. At Evanston, a 
few miles from Chicago, I spent the Sabbath with 
Rev. 0, Huse, who married Liveria's sister, and 
was entertained in the kindest manner. They 
have made themselves wealthy by coming West. 

I buy my printing paper and other supplies in 
Milwaukee and get some advertising patronage 
here. 

I left Liveria in poor health. She had been 
quite unwell a week or two previous, but was 
some better. I have much anxiety for her and 
shall hasten home as soon as business will permit. 
We live pleasantly and comfortably, but business 
is dull. It makes but little difference, however, 
for I am not ambitious to make money. For whom 
shall I make it? Our little Mary is beyond the 
necessity of earthly goods, and we have no one to 
work for. . Her memory is ever with us. I often 
find myself, almost unawares, gazing at little girls 
passing in the street or sportively at play — some- 
times watching them for a long time — vainly fan- 
cying that my Mary is before me. 

In Chicago I bought a variety of flower seeds to 
plant at Mary's grave. Often do I steal away 
silently and alone to gaze on the spot where we 
laid her. I have now carried many of her clothes, 
&c. , to her little cousins at Evanston, according to 
her dying request. 

I hope that Daniel does not allow you to suffer for 
any thing that will make you comfortable. I want 
you should write me often. You can not imagine 
how much I prize your letters. I hope that the 
children will all visit you often. Oh! how I wish 
the distance was not so great between us. I shall 
start for home to-morrow. 

Your son, 

A. B. P. Hildreth. 



260 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

St. Charles City, Iowa, June 29, 1859. 

Dear Mother: I have just returned from Des 
Moines and find your letter here. We are very 
glad to hear from you again, and especially to 
learn that your health is so much improved. 

Since my return I find a large amount of busi- 
ness on my hands which has accumulated in my 
absence, and I have only time for a few words 
to you at this time. We are all in excellent health. 
I was a delegate to the State Republican Conven- 
tion at Des Moines. The journey across the prai- 
ries was long and tiresome, but the weather was 
fine and I enjoyed it much. You will see the pro- 
ceedings of the Convention in the Intelligencer. 
Next week our District Court will be in session 
here, and as I am one of the Grand Jurors my 
time will be wholly occupied during the session. 

I am very sorry to learn that fraudulent ac- 
counts are carried in against father's estate. I 
have written to Mr. Douglas, the administrator, 
on the subject. Oh, my dear mother, how I wish 
that I could be with you and aid you in the settle- 
ment of father's affairs. Do not make yourself 
unhappy on account of them. 

Affectionately, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



St. Charles City, Nov. 4, 1860. 

My Dear Mother: Your kind letter of the 21st 
ult. was duly received. It must be a great pleas- 
ure to you to visit your children, and I rejoice that 
so many of them are near you and that they do 
not forget you. I am much pleased to hear about 
Almira. She was the nearest my age, and I seem 
to feel a stronger attachment for her on that ac- 
count. It is a good thing that she has a daughter. 
It will add greatly to her enjoyment of life, and 
there will be some proper one to inherit her prop- 
erty. Almira and her many excellent qualities 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 261 

will always be held by me in affectionate remem- 
brance. 

I had never heard of the S. P. Hildreth in Ohio, 
of whom you write. I will correspond with him. 

My opinion is that Abraham Lincoln will be our 
next President. It will be a great misfortune to 
the country should he be defeated. The Govern- 
ment at Washington is wofully corrupt, and a rad- 
ical reform is needed speedily. 

Liveria says she wishes you could come and 
visit us as you do the rest of the children. We 
should take great pleasure in trying to render you 
comfortable and happy. 

We are promising ourselves a visit to Vermont 
sometime next season. I hope we may not be dis- 
appointed. Does Daniel provide every thing ne- 
cessary to make you comfortable? I hope so. 

Liveria joins me in sending kindest regards to 
you all. Please write often. 

Your devoted son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



St. Charles City, May 28, 1861. 

Dear Mother: I have just received your letter of 
May 5th, informing me that sister Amelia is dead. 
Can it be that my dear sister is no more? It does 
seem to me that I cannot have it so. Do bear up 
under it, dear mother. It is a sad and trying af- 
fliction, but do not repine. I pity her husband. 
How blasted are all his fond hopes of the future! 
The world must indeed look gloomy to him now. 
I had thought much of visiting Mr. Burt and 
Amelia this summer or fall, and had it on my mind 
to make Amelia a present of a gold watch. Indeed 
I had spoken to a watchmaker to get me one for 
her. But it is too late. 

And now I must say that it looks as if I shall 
not go East this season. I had begun to lay by 
some money for the journey, when the banks 
failed (in Illinois and Wisconsin) and their money 



262 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

will not pass anywhere. It will sometime be re- 
deemed at a large discount, but I don't know 
when. The war is causing very hard times. My 
business amounts to nothing, and, everything con- 
sidered, I fear I shall be disappointed in making 
my contemplated journey. However, we must 
submit to all our disappointments and afflictions as 
well as we can. 

Poor Amelia!* the youngest blossom of the fam- 
ily, and may I not say the most amiable and love- 
ly? How vividly comes to my mind her childhood 
days when she would bring the Bibles for us to 
read at family devotion, and how she would always 
kneel at father's chair while he was praying. It 
is well with her now, we fully believe. A morn- 
ing flower plucked for heaven. But what a shad- 
ow of gloom lies in our pathway! One by one the 
objects of our affection — the dearly loved ones — 
depart from our presence, and are gone forever. 

Be comforted, dear mother. Give Mr. Burt my 
heart-felt sympathies. Time alone can heal the 
keen anguish which he and we all feel. Not ours 
but God's will be done. I wish to know all the 
particulars of Amelia's death. I hope that you or 
some one will write a long letter. 

We are all in usual health. Liveria sends her 
sympathy and love. 

Affectionately, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



Charles City, Iowa, Nov. 25, 1861. 

Dear Mother: I leave this morning for Des 
Moines. It is a long and tiresome journey, across 
the prairies, and I dread it at this time of the 
year. I have only time to write a word. When I 
am at Des Moines I will write again. I have re- 
ceived your letter of November 8th, and am very 
glad to learn that you are so well and enjoy your- 
self. 

I hope that I can visit you next summer. I will 
*Died in childbed. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 263 

exert myself to do so. I do not think Liveria will 
go. She talks as if she should not go East again. 
The fact is that if we both go my business will 
suffer. 

We thank you for the things that you have been 
making for us, and I hope I can find it convenient 
to bring them to Iowa when I go to visit you. 

Liveria's health is not good this winter. She 
has cramps and numbness in her limbs. 

Write me at Des Moines, if you get this in sea- 
son. I shall be there about three weeks. 
Affectionately, 

A. B. F. HILDRETH. 



Senate Chamber, Des Moines, Dec. 13, 1861. 

My Dear Mother: I improve a leisure moment 
to say that I arrived here safely and in good time, 
and am in the enjoyment of excellent health. The 
weather was very cold and windy during my jour- 
ney here and a few inches of snow fell, but not 
enough for sleighing. Since then the weather 
has been mild and pleasant. For several days it 
has seemed more like spring than the beginning 
of winter. 

We are having a very agreeable session of the 
State Board of Education at this time. I think it 
is more pleasant than either of the former ses- 
sions, and, as several new members have been 
elected, there is more talent in the Board now 
than formerly. Governor Kirkwood is a very able 
man and works with us as industriously as any 
one. Col. Thomas H. Benton, our Secretary, is a 
nephew of the old Senator Benton, formerly of 
Missouri, and is one of the noblest men that I ever 
became acquainted with — a ripe scholar and a true 
friend. The Lieut. Governor, N. J, Rusch, is our 
presiding officer. He is a wealthy farmer, a na- 
tive of Germany, an educated and genial man. 
Mr. Bloomer, one of our ablest and best members, 
is husband of the Mrs. Bloomer who originated 



264 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

the -'Bloomer costume" for ladies. He is very 
much respected by the members. The table giv- 
ing a list of members, &c. , which I enclose, was 
prepared by me yesterday, and appears to gratify 
the members very much. 

You will see by the reports of proceedings that 
I have my full share of work to do; indeed, the 
President has appointed me Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Revision — the most difficult and respon- 
sible position in the Board, as nearly all the busi- 
ness of the session has to go through my hands 
and be prepared and reported. It is somewhat 
singular that the education of the printing office 
should be thought to fit a man better for the dis- 
charge of such duties than that of a lawyer's office, 
for you will see there are ten lawyers in our Board. 

We shall close our labors here sometime next 
week, and I hope to reach home the week after. 
I hope you are still in the enjoyment of usual 
health. I have received no letter from you here, 
yet, but presume I shall before leaving. I have 
sent you a book in which you will find one of my 
reports. Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



Charles City, Iowa, Feb. 23, 1862. 

Dear Mother: In your letters you often ask me 
to write you. The only excuse I can make for not 
writing oftener is that Frank must, of course, 
write you, and when he writes he will give you all 
the news of interest to you. Were you acquainted 
with the place or the people here, there would 
probably be many things that I could write about 
which Would interest you. I well know that I 
should not reprove you, but I wish to say that you 
need not speak disparagingly of your letters. I 
do not suppose that one lady in twenty, at your 
age, can write such good letters as you do. Pro- 
vided they were imperfect, do not think that we 
should criticise them. No, indeed. We are but 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 265 

too happy to read your kind letters to notice any 
faults in them. I sometimes wish you would write 
longer letters, but I know you have several child- 
ren to correspond with, and it must be quite a tax 
to write as much as you do. If I could see you I 
could talk with you incessantly for days, there are 
so many things here that I should like to talk 
about. I hope to visit you sometime, but how 
soon I cannot tell. It is a long journey from here 
to Vermont, and an expensive one, and it is very 
difficult for Mr. Hildreth and me both to be absent 
from our home and business. 

I am very sorry for Amelia's babe. No one 
cares for and loves such a child as a mother would. 
I hope it will be well cared for. I presume Mr. 
Burt will marry again, and if so I hope he will 
marry some one who will be a good mother to his 
little one. If it were a girl I think I should like 
to take it and bring it up as my own. 

Please give my love to all the brothers and sis- 
ters and their little ones, and accept much love for 
yourself. Your affectionate daughter, 

Liveria A. Hildreth. 

Dear Mother: Liveria wishes I would fill out 
the little s^ace she has left on this sheet. . First, 
I am glad to learn that your health continues so 
good, and that my brothers and sisters and their 
families are well. I do not have many papers or 
magazines now that I think would interest you, but 
such as I may have that you would like to read I 
will send you. 

You speak of hard times and this cruel war. 
Our farmers complain, but in truth they were nev- 
er better off than now. Prices are low, but the 
amount of their farm products is large. They 
have been selling large quantities of wheat, pork, 
&c, and money is more plenty now than it has 
been for the past four years. The sleighing is 
good and the winter has been a fine one for busi- 
ness. 

The war causes great anxiety among our people. 

34 



266 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

We expect by the next mail to hear that many of 
the soldiers who went from this county are either 
dead or wounded. They were at the capture of 
Fort Donelson, in the hardest of the fight, and 
badly cut up. Please write often. 
Your son, 

A. B. F. HlLDRETH. 



Charles City, June 19, 1862. 

My Dear Mother: I owe you an apology for de- 
laying so long to answer your kind letter. The 
truth is that I have been absent a part of the time, 
and since I came home I have had so much to at- 
tend to. Several times when I have been on the 
point of writing, something would happen to pre- 
vent. 

I had a very good journey to Milwaukee. I 
purchased me some clothing and groceries, also 
various things for Liveria, such as a beautiful 
bonnet, mantilla, two dresses, a gold chain for her 
watch, (she has a nice gold watch,) and various 
knick-knacks. Liveria's health has much im- 
proved this spring, and she is most of the time in 
excellent spirits. I think she never enjoyed life 
better or was happier than now. We have our 
house well fitted up and furnished. Last spring 
we bought a lot adjoining the house where we now 
have a fine garden — indeed the house is in a gar- 
den — and Liveria has almost every variety of flow 
ers growing, and many of them in blossom, so 
that we are very pleasantly situated. I am hav- 
ing me a nice buggy made. When in Milwaukee 
I bought a plated harness. Father Knight has 
bought a horse, and we intend to enjoy a ride oc- 
casionally, notwithstanding we work so hard. 
Now, mother, don't think we are extravagant. I 
should not pay out money to buy these things, but 
many of my patrons, who have printing and ad- 
vertising done, wish me to take such pay, and 
would not patronize me unless I would do so. I 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 267 

shall have to go to Milwaukee and Chicago in 
September, and my going to Vermont at that time 
will depend upon whether I can be absent from 
home long enough to go there, in addition to the 
time I must spend in attending to business in those 
cities, or not. It looks doubtful now, yet if I can 
run away a few days when I reach Chicago, you 
will see .me. Do not depend on it, and then you 
will not be disappointed. Liveria will not go, 
even if I do; but she thinks that she shall go next 
year. 

We board two of the young men employed in 
the printing office. They are steady boys and we 
get along very pleasantly. 

Do not delay writing because I have been so 
negligent. Let me know about Mr. Burt and Dan- 
iel and all the rest. How does Amelia's babe get 
along? I wish to hear all the news about the old 
home. Affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Charles City, Iowa, Aug. 24, 1862. 

My Dear Mother: I owe you an apology for de- 
laying so long to answer your letter. My excuse 
is that I have had so much business on my hands, 
both public and private, that I have found no time 
to write. 

On Friday the mail brought me an appointment 
from the Governor of the State as ' 'Commissioner 
of Draft" for Floyd county, devolving upon me the 
duty of appointing an Examining Surgeon and an 
Enrolling Officer, and attending to and managing 
all the business of drafting soldiers in the several 
townships in this county, for the war. This is a 
very responsible and at the same time unpleasant 
duty. The unpleasantness arises from the fact 
that, while this business is being transacted nearly 
every family is in a state of suspense aud anxiety 
lest a husband, a father, a son, a brother, may be 
drafted; snatched from them, and at once hurried 



268 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

off to the war. Great prudence and discretion are 
needed in the transaction of this business, and a 
large amount of writing and correspondence with 
the Governor and Adjutant General has to be done. 
I shall endeavor to do my duty as faithfully as 
possible, without favor or partiality. 

The war feeling all through this country is in- 
tense. Ten Companies were called for from this 
Congressional District, and we have already raised 
twenty-five — all done within two weeks! Oh, what 
a terrible war is this! The wDrld has hardly ever 
known the like of it. Possibly we shall never sub- 
due the South, but I hope so. We shall be borne 
down with taxes for many years to come. 

Liveria is well and sends her love. 
Affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Charles City, March 16, 1865. 

My Dear Mother: Your excellent letter of the 
6th inst. is received. We are very glad to hear 
from you again, and learn that you are enjoying 
usual health. It would indeed afford me pleasure 
to accept your invitation to call and eat maple 
sugar with you. I should enjoy it as much as I 
did the raspberries with milk which you gathered 
and gave me the last time that I saw you. But I 
do not see how I can visit you at present. I have 
no suitable person to leave my business with. 
Good journeymen printers are so scarce and charge 
so high that I cannot afford to hire suitable hands, 
and my present printers would ruin every thing 
were I to leave them in charge of my affairs. On 
this account I must decline going to the Legisla- 
ture again, although I should like to go and the 
people would like to send me. 

I will send you by this mail a large book, it be- 
ing a journal of the House of Representatives, 
thinking that you may be pleased to look it over 
and see what part one of your boys has taken in 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 269 

framing the laws and moulding the institutions of 
a new State; a State that is destined to become 
one of the greatest and best of the American 
Union. 

You will see by the Intelligencer of this week 
what we are doing for education in this place. 
My advice and assistance in all our school matters 
is constantly sought by our leading men, and it is 
nattering to thus enjoy the confidence of the com- 
munity. Nearly all the resolutions and business 
which was transacted at our school meetings were 
prepared by me, and the people were rallied by 
my friends to sustain them, which was done by an 
overwhelming majority. It is pleasant to live 
among such whole-souled and enterprising people 
as we have here. 

Oh, that I had children to be benefited by these 
educational labors of mine. Then I should feel 
that I was receiving some compensation in return. 
Now, all is for the public good, and little or none 
for myself. 

We have had a mild and pleasant winter and 
business has been good. There will be a large 
amount of building done here the coming season, 
and we expect many new settlers. 

I was glad to learn that you hear frequently 
from brother Albert, now in the army, but I wish 
you would tell me where he is or send me one of 
his letters. 

The rebellion is nearly crushed. One great bat- 
tle must yet be fought, and if we are victorious in 
that, as I doubt not we shall be, that will be the 
end of the Jeff. Davis government. The rebels 
cannot raise men and means for another campaign. 

I sent Mr. Porter an agricultural paper, the 
"Prairie Farmer, 1 ' a few days ago, so that he can 
see how differently farming is done in the West 
from that of the East. 

Liveria's health continues about the same as 
formerly. She has bought a superior Grover & 
Baker sewing machine, which helps her much 



270 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

about her sewing-. It cost seventy dollars and does 
splendid work. The labor of weeks is thus done 
in an hour or two, and it is mere recreation to do 
it. 

Liveria has had all her upper front teeth .ex- 
tracted, and intends soon to have a new set that 
will not ache! She suffered unaccountably for 
many weeks and took no comfort day or night. 
She had seven teeth extracted at one time and 
bore it with more fortitude than I could. 

I am sorry that our family and friends in Ver- 
mont enjoy (?) such poor health. They had better 
come West. I have had no sickness worth men- 
tioning since I came here. Nearly every one here, 
man or woman, is robust, hale and hearty. 

Write often. Enclosed is five dollars; get all 
the comfort from it that you can. 

Affectionately, 

A. B. P. Hildreth. 



Charles City, Iowa, June 8, 1865. 

Dear Mother: I received your kind letter seve- 
ral days since, enclosing one from brother Albert, 
for which please accept my thanks. I was very 
glad to hear from Albert, and am still more anx- 
ious to learn whether you have any later news 
from him or not. I shall be greatly rejoiced if he 
comes out of the war safe and sound. I will en- 
close to you a picture of one of the soldiers who 
was taken prisoner by the rebels, and suffered 
everything but death while in their hands. His 
feet were frozen and mortified, and were cut off at 
the ankle joints with scissors, and the bones pro- 
truded through the flesh. 

You once asked me if the South would conquer 
the North. What do you think now, since Jeff. 
Davis donned his wife's petticoats and thus under- 
took to escape capture? It will be a long time 
before the Southern "fire eaters" will start anoth- 
er rebellion. How suddenly they gave up, and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 271 

how anxious they are now to be pardoned! How 
do the copperheads in Corinth (Vt.) feel these 
days? I think I remember some of them of old. 

We are getting along with our business the same 
as usual. Liveria's health is tolerably good for 
her — better than it was a year or two ago. My 
health is excellent. We are very anxious to go 
and visit you, but it seems impossible so long as 
we carry on the printing and publishing business. 
If I should sell out we should certainly take oc- 
casion to go and see you. 

You spoke of some articles that you wish to 
give us. I suppose it would not pay to send them 
by express, the charges would be so high. If I 
knew what the articles are I could tell better. 

Business here is improving. Several new build- 
ings are going up, among them two churches, 
Methodist and Disciple or Campbellite. The Con- 
gregationalists are also trying to raise means to 
build a church. I used to help support all the 
denominations here, but now I find it better to ally 
myself with the Congregationalists and help sup- 
port one denomination. The Congregationalists 
are not very numerous here, but they comprise 
the more intelligent portion of our community and 
are mainly eastern people. The Campbellites are 
emphatically western people, yet there are many 
good people among them. The doctrine of the 
Campbellites is very similar to that of the ' 'Christ- 
ians" in New England in former days. The peo- 
ple are better than their doctrine. 

Let us know about Albert, also how Lyman and 
Daniel get along. Do you hear from sister Mary 
in Lowell? It is a long time since she and Charles 
have written us. 

Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



272 PERSONAL LETTERS OF 

Charles City, Iowa, July 30, 1866. 

My Dear Mother: Your kind and excellent letter 
of the 1st inst., and one from sister Harriet, came 
duly to hand. I have been very busy with my 
Work and building affairs, and have delayed writ- 
ing too long. We are all in usual health and get- 
ting along comfortably. Our town is growing 
quite rapidly. Many new buildings are going up 
and new settlers are coming in. 

It makes me feel sad to have the old homestead 
sold to strangers, but, as you say, it will make no 
difference by and by. Tell Harriet that I thank 
her for her letter and hope she will write often. 
I also wish to hear from all my brothers and sisters. 

The weather has been very warm during the 
last two weeks, and crops are growing finely. 
The wheat and corn crop will be very large. 

The frame of our new house is raised, and work- 
men are now engaged in putting on the roof and 
enclosing it. It will be a large nice house, and I 
wish you could visit us when it is completed and 
enjoy it with us. Love to all. 

Affectionately, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Charles City, Iowa, July 11, 1869. 

My Dear Mother: Your kind letter of the 1st 
inst. was duly received. I am greatly pleased to 
learn that your health is improving and that you 
enjoy yourself so well. You must not despair of 
seeing me. I do not intend to continue in the 
printing and newspaper business much longer, 
and when I sell I certainly intend to go and visit 
you. I have frequent applications to sell, but the 
applicants do not have the ready money to pay 
me. A gentleman from Missouri called on me 
last Monday, to purchase, and is to decide in two 
weeks. I think it about an even chance that we 
shall trade. I own the building and shall rent a 
portion of the upper story to him, if he buys. I 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 273 

have two stores in the block which rent, for two 
hundred and fifty dollars a year each, One is oc- 
cupied for millinery and fancy goods, and the 
other for West India goods and groceries. 

Business here is good this season. The crops 
look splendidly. The quantity of wheat raised 
will be enormous. I have eighty acres growing in 
one field and I never saw any looking better. 

I have strong hope that I shall be able to go 
East next season, and I anticipate a happy visit 
with you. Liveria's health is poor this summer. 
She is some better now than she was a few weeks 
ago, when she had a doctor. I have been badly 
troubled with rheumatism, but am better now. 
Affectionately, your son, 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 



FAMILY LETTERS TO AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 

The succeeding letters, which complete "Part 
Second'' of this volume, were all written by mem 
bers and relatives of the Hildreth family: 

Chelsea, Vt., Orange County, June 11, 1856. 

My Dear Children: I am truly glad to know by 
your kind letter of May 28th that you have safely 
arrived at your place of destination and future 
home, St. Charles, Iowa. The journey must have 
become very fatiguing. Tell Liveria that we 
think, after she and the little one become rested, 
they will like the place and recover from their 
homesickness. Liveria will have her mother near 
her soon, which will cause her to be more content- 
ed. Her uncle, Prentiss Knight, of Newbury, 
stopped with us the other day, and said Liveria's 
father and mother would start for Iowa in about 
two weeks. 

My son, we all hope that God will be merciful 
to you and your family, and that you may be 
blessed with improved health and the comforts of 

35 



274 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

life. Your mother has lately spent four weeks in 
Lowell, Mass., and has returned in usual health. 
She had a nice visit there. 

My health t would be pretty good were it not for 
lameness in my knees. The doctors say the sciat- 
ic nerves are affected, and it hurts me to walk. 

We have had a cold, backward spring. Daniel 
has just finished planting his potatoes. He is 
promised two hundred dollars for his cream- col- 
ored horse and will deliver him the first of next 
month. 

R. Johnson, of Bradford, wishes your paper 
sent to him — also Pascal Grow of Chelsea. 

Your mother and I send our best regards to 
Liveria, little Mary and yourself. Please write 
soon. Your father, 

Daniel Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., July 25, 1857. 

My Dear Children: I returned home from a visit 
to Lowell and Boston on the 30th ult. and found a 
letter here from you. The perusal of it gratified 
me very much. I was absent from home a month. 
My main object was to be near the salt water for 
the benefit of my health. You know your cousin 
Cutting, of Boston, owns a yacht. With it he took 
me down the harbor several times, and I think it 
benefited me. On my return home I found your 
mother comfortable. My sister, Dolly Tyler, of 
Chelsea, Mass., was as well as when you saw her 
last. Your sister, Mary McCoy, in Lowell, was 
not very well. Your brothers and sisters here are 
well. Daniel has two hands to help him in hay- 
ing. Their wages is two dollars a day. His crops 
of grass and grain are looking well. 

I have received from you two newspapers and a 
book for which I thank you, as well as for your 
other kindnesses. The Dubuque paper was very 
interesting. The statements regarding your pros- 
pects, given in your last letter were highly grati- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 275 

fying. I am afraid you may go too fast, and that 
your friends will induce you to engage in some of 
their enterprises to your injury. I should rather 
have it said that you are prudent and economical 
than to have you fail by being too liberal. When 
that happens flatterers will turn their backs to 
you. I hope you will receive this caution kindly. 

The weather here has been very warm. How is 
it in Iowa? On account of the hot weather will it 
not be better for you to postpone coming East till 
the latter part of August? When you come, do not 
be in a hurry to return. Write me, and I will 
meet you at the village with a team. 

We send our best regards to you and yours, 
little Mary, Mr. Carver and all. 

Your father, 

Daniel Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., Dec. 19, 1857. 

My Dear Son: Through the goodness of a mer- 
ciful God I find myself more comfortable as to my 
health now than I have been for some time past. 
I ride out frequently. On a beautiful day last 
week I rode to Bradford to consult a doctor; went 
alone, and was gone two days. The doctor said 
he could help me, and gave me medicine to take 
daily. My stomach is badly disordered and my 
appetite very poor. I hope to improve and by 
spring be able to do some work. 

My dear son: Last evening we received the 
sorrowful tidings of the death of your dear and 
only child, Mary. Your mother and I mourn and 
weep with you and Liveria for your bereavement 
and loss. But we believe that by God's blessing 
your little Mary is happy with her dear Jesus in 
paradise, for he said when on earth: "Suffer little 
children to come unto me and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of God." Your mother 
and I rejoice that Mary's death was so calm and 
peaceful. Dear son and daughter, we believe that 



276 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

this dispensation will prove to you both a Savior 
of Life unto Life. It will have a tendency to wean 
you from earthly things and place your affections 
on thing's heavenly. Oh, yes! you will see your 
little Mary again, happy, clad in white raiment 
and hymning the praises of her Redeemer. Let 
us exhort you to prepare while life endures; have 
your lamps trimmed and burning; and be ever 
ready to meet the grim messenger, Death, with 
true Christian fortitude and resignation. My son, 
we know that you have had great afflictions, for a 
young man, and so did your poor father, at the 
age of twenty-five years. Tne good Lord, through 
the event of a friend's death, warned me to be 
prepared for another state of existence, and I 
have ever since tried to live the life of a Christian. 

We received two papers giving an account of 
Mary's death. Sweet little angel; she doth now 
with the angels sing. 

Your mother is in comfortable health. Charles 
and Mary and the children are well, and so are all 
the friends here, except 

Your affectionate father, 

Daniel Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., Dec. 19, 1857. 

My Dear Children: How do you do, this morn- 
ing? Well, I hope. We are in usual health, and 
that not very good, but feel thankful it is no 
worse. Dear children, I do sympathize with you 
in your painful bereavement and wish I could be 
with you and mingle my tears with yours. Your 
dear little Mary is gone, never more to return; 
but we shall go to her df we live and die as it is 
our wish to do. 

It is a mystery that one so young and beautiful 
should be called away so soon, while the aged and 
infirm are spared. I thought so when I have part- 
ed with dear children. None but parents know 
the heart-rending feelings we have. Dear little 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 277 

Mary! She was an extraordinary child — too good 
for this wicked world. 

I thank yon for the present yon sent me. I 
shall keep it as a token of remembrance of yonr 
dear little Mary — sweet name — the name of the 
mother of Jesns. Excnse errors. 

Yonr sympathizing mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., July 20, 1858. 

My Dear Children: Will yon excnse my imper- 
fect writing? If so, I will try to write a few lines 
and let yon know how we are. My health is not 
so good as usual, and I cannot keep up during the 
whole day. My old complaint, dyspepsia, is troub- 
ling me. Amelia has been absent three or four 
weeks, stopping at Mr. Dickinson's in Washington, 
and I feel quite lonely. She is the one I depend 
upon to care for me when sick. She is kind and 
sympathetic, and says that I shall not suffer for 
want of nursing, while she can do anything to 
help me. 

Harriet has a daughter about two weeks old — 
mother and child doing well. I have not yet been 
to see her, for I have been helping your father get 
ready to go to Saratoga Springs. He left yester- 
day morning. We could not persuade him to give 
up the journey, he was so certain that the spring 
water would help him. I am afraid he will be sick 
there, but hope for the best. We both feel the 
effects of old age. The aged are dying all around 
us. Mrs. Noble, widow of Rev. Calvin Noble of 
this town, died a few days ago, and there is only 
one child left (a son) of that worthy family. Your 
father's old friend, Joseph Sawyer, Esq., of Pier- 
mont. N. H., died a few days ago. The news of 
his death almost unnerved your father, he thought 
of him so highly. 

A short time ago I visited Almira and Harriet — 
spent a week with each, and I wish I could visit 



278 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

you as long, but that cannot be unless you come 
east to live. Albert lives in Fairlee, and I hear 
that he is doing well. Daniel and family are well. 
He has commenced haying. He works hard. He 
has a good deal of grain and potatoes growing. 

I should like to have Harriet name her little 
girl Mary, (for there is no prettier name, ) in mem- 
ory of your darling little Mary — lovely flower. I 
cannot think of her loss without shedding tears. 

But I must stop writing unless I can do better. 
I hope you will excuse errors, and consider that I 
am not an editor. My love to you both. 

Your mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., Nov. 28, 1858. 

My Dear Children: I seat myself to write you 
under the most painful feelings. My dear hus- 
band and your father is no more with us. We 
shall hear his voice no more. I was anticipating 
his death, but it came suddenly at last. He was 
only confined to his bed two days. He had been 
failing for two weeks, and then took a ride and 
said he felt better. He rode to Vershire four days 
before he died. He seemed to grow weaker, and 
we told him that we feared it was his last sickness. 
It did not alarm him any. He was calm and rec- 
onciled, free from pain, and died without a groan 
or struggle, as easily as a child would go to sleep. 
His peaceful death was consoling to us. Daniel. 
Harriet, Albert and Amelia were here. Four of 
the children were by his dying bed. I wish all 
could have been present. Your mother is now a 
poor lonely widow, and will be during her few re- 
maining days on earth. 

Daniel and his wife were very kind to me and to 
your father during his sickness. Amelia will be 
with me a few weeks. She is a good girl and will 
have her reward, I trust, in this world and the 
world to come. Let us all live so that we can 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 279 

meet in heaven, where parting is unknown, and 
be a re-united and happy family. 

The neighbors were exceedingly kind to us, and 
all was done for your father that could be done. 
The doctor was attentive, but could not save him. 
His time to die had come. Hemorrhage of the 
bowels set in and there was no help for him. We 
received your kind letter a few days before he 
died, and Amelia wrote soon afterward. 

If your aged mother should be alive next sum- 
mer, I hope it will be so that you can visit us 
again. My health is as good as can be expected 
under all my trying circumstances. The children 
will surely be kind to a mother who has cared for 
and done so much for them during infancy and 
maturer years, and would gladly do much more if 
she could. Excuse my imperfect writing, and let 
us hear from you often. 

I remain your affectionate mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Cheljsea, Vt., April 25, 1860. 

My Dear Children: How do you do, this pleasant 
morning? Well, I hope, and enjoy all the comforts 
of life. My health is about as usual, excepting a 
bad cold and cough. I have just returned home 
from a visit to Corinth. Was gone seven weeks, 
visiting my three daughters, Amelia, Harriet and 
Almira. I had very pleasant visits with them. 
Stayed with Amelia the most of the time. She 
and her husband are very kind indeed, and did all 
they could for my comfort. Amelia's health is 
good. She and I wrote you. but have not yet 
received an answer. Mr. Burt gets your paper 
and is much pleased with it. 

Your brothers and sisters are all in usual health, 
so far as I know about them. Daniel and wife do 
not have so good health as they could wish. I 
hope we shall not be disappointed in seeing you 
both this summer, yet I know it will be difficult 



280 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

for you both to be absent from your business. 
Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss have buried their only 
child, a daughter of fifteen years. Her disease 
was consumption. 

I have many things I wish to talk with you 
about that I cannot write, and I do hope that I 
may see you once more. I realize that my time is 
short. The aged are dying all around us. I try 
to be patient and reconciled, and I feel that I en- 
joy that peace and hope in Christ which the world 
cannot give or take away. I cannot thank you 
enough for being so kind to your poor lonely wid- 
owed mother. You know what it is to be bereft 
of a bosom companion. 

Writing fatigues me. Excuse imperfections. 
Liveria, please write. Your letters are so com- 
forting. Your affectionate mother, 

C. HlLDRETH. 



Marietta, Ohio, Nov. 15, 1860. 

To A. B. F. ffildreth, Esq. : 

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 5th inst. is at hand. 
I was much pleased to hear from one of the old 
Hildreth stock, there are so few of that name in 
the valley of the Mississippi. There is one in New 
Orleans, one in Cincinnati, and two in this vicinity 
— with three sons of my own family. I know of 
no others. I am not so fully posted on the gene- 
alogy of the race as I wish I were. I have been 
making inquiries on this subject for several years, 
to get all the branches of our own part of the 
name, but not very successfully. The records of 
Townsend, Mass. , of an early day, where our por- 
tion originated, are said by the present clerk to be 
lost. I wrote last summer to children of Jonathan 
Hildreth, my uncle, for an account of that family, 
but got no answer. It seems to be a study in 
which few persons take an interest. I was ac- 
quainted with one of the sons of James Hildreth, 
who lived in Billerica, Mass., when I was 18 or 20 



AZRO B. P.' HILDRETH. 281 

years old. I think his father was a blacksmith. 
This young man was living near Boston. I was 
born in Methuen, Mass., in 1783, the same year as 
your father. My parent was named Samuel, and 
practised medicine. He was born in Townsend in 
1750. The great progenitor of the Hildreths was 
Richard who settled in Chelmsford, Mass., in 
1642. Our grandfather, Oliver, who lived in Har- 
vard, Mass., was the fourth generation in descent, 
and came as follows: Joseph, Richard, James 
who was the father of Oliver, also the father of 
Jaines who was your father's father. Oliver mar- 
ried Anna Blaisdell and was the father of fifteen 
children, viz: Oliver, Jonathan, Samuel, Seth, 
James, Abij ah — Molly, Rachel, Dolly, Lucy, Anna, 
Sarah, Rebecca, Joanna and Abigail. The last 
were twins. All these children lived to adult age, 
married and had large families. Molly was mar- 
ried to Edmund Tarbell, Rachel to Edward Tar- 
bell, and Anna to Samuel Tarbell, brothers, and 
settled in Mason, Mass., and Cavendish, N. H. 
Dolly married Oliver Greene, of Ashburnham, 
Mass. , Lucy to Mr. Barnes and lived in Concord, 
Mass.; Sarah to Job Brooks of Stoddard, N. H., 
Rebecca to C. Elliott, a Baptist preacher in Ma- 
son; Joanna married Reuben Davis, and lived in 
Chelsea, Vt. ; Abigail to Jabez Greene of Marlbo- 
rough, Mass. Whom the sons married I do not 
know. Samuel married Abigail Bodwell and had 
five daughters and two sons. Jonathan had four 
sons and five daughters. Oliver four sons and 
seven daughters. Seth had two sons and seven 
daughters. Abigail one son and three daughters. 
James had a large family, how many I do not 
know, but you can tell me, with their names, and 
I will add them to my record. So you see that 
you belong to a numerous branch of the race and 
have a great number of relatives. Richard, the 
historian, has done more on the genealogy of the 
family than any other one, but mainly on his 
own branch, as published in the Massachusetts; 

36 



282 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Genealogical and Historical Register, about two 
years ago, in a letter to a relative in New Orleans. 
I shall be pleased to receive from yon any ad- 
ditional facts on the subject. I wrote to your 
father a few months ago. and received an answer 
from your brother, but he could give no definite 
account of the family ancestry. [Father was dead. 

— A. B. F. H.] 

Richard Hildreth was a son of Hosea, a preach- 
er of the gospel, and nephew of Abel and Ezekiel, 
both teachers of academies, the latter in Wheel- 
ing, Va., where three sons now live. Abiel is now 
in Newton, near Boston, teaching. 

I am pleased with the appearance of your news- 
paper, its size, neatness and business aspect. I 
shall be gratified in hearing from you. My age is 
seventy-seven years. I cannot write with the 
facility of forty -five. 

Very truly yours, 

S. P. Hildreth, M. D. 



Chelsea, Vt., Oct. 21, 1860. 

My Dear Children: It is a long time since I 
wrote you and received a letter from you. I have 
just returned from a visit to my daughters, and 
have been absent about six weeks. I enjoyed my 
visits very much. I love to visit my children, for 
they will sit with me and be as sociable as possi- 
ble, and that takes away the feeling of loneliness. 
My health is better than it was during the warm 
weather. Your brothers and sisters are well. 
Almira has a pretty little girl about a year and a 
half old. They think much of her. Her husband, 
Mr. Wason, is in poor health. He is a kind hus- 
band. I expect you are busy with political affairs. 
Do you think Mr. Lincoln will be the next Presi- 
dent? 

We recently received a letter from Dr. S. P. 
Hildreth of Marietta, Ohio, a cousin of your fa- 
ther. He wished for information in regard to the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 283 

Hildreths as far as we knew. Daniel and I an- 
swered him, but could not give him much of such 
information as he desired. Do you know about 
him? I have heard that he is very wealthy, but 
do not know his object in writing. Please write 
soon. Your mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Chelsea, Vt., Jan. 2, 1861. 

Dear Children : I received your kind letter a few 
days ago. You requested me to write about your 
father's family — the Hildreths. Only two are 
alive — your aunt Dolly in Chelsea, Mass., and 
your uncle Samuel who lives in Mouut Vernon, 
Ohio. Polly died several years ago in Derby, Vt. 
James died in Cavendish, this State. There was 
a Sally, but I do not know where she died. Nan- 
cy married Dr. Jonathan Griffin and died in Ohio. 
This is all I can tell about your father's brothers 
and sisters. 

My health is very good for me this winter. I 
took Thanksgiving supper with Amelia and her 
husband. Was there two weeks, and had an ex- 
cellent visit. Harriet has buried her little son. 
He was five weeks old. They took his death very 
hard. Harriet's health is not good. The rest of 
your brothers and sisters are well. 

I thank you for the presents that you have sent 
me, and I may have some for you when you come 
to see me. I hope I shall not be disappointed in 
seeing you next summer. I will write more par- 
ticulars next time. 

Your affectionate mother, 

C. Hildreth. 



Chelsea, August 28,1861. 

Dear Children: I seat myself to write to the best 
of children. My health is good for me. I have 
been visiting in the village among old friends — 



284 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

absent about a week, and enjoyed my visits much. 
My health has improved thereby. Mrs. Prentiss, 
(your old school-mate, Mary Perkins,) says she 
wishes that you would write her, for you can sym- 
pathize with her in the loss of her daughter, a 
beautiful girl about fifteen years old. She feels 
her loss keenly. 

I also visited with Lucinda, (Perkins,) who now 
lives in Montpelier. She has two children. I saw 
Elias Lathrop, at the Prentiss place, and all 
seemed pleased to have me visit them. 

I received the book and papers that you sent 
me. Postmaster Davis told me that he thought I 
had a good boy out West, and he liked to have 
children remember their mother. 

Daniel and family are well. He finished haying 
to-day. He has a large crop of hay. The barn 
has not been so full for a number of years as now. 
Amelia's babe has been very sick, but is better 
now. He is called a pretty boy. I do not see Mr. 
Burt very often. Your brothers and sisters are 
well. I received your kind letter of the 8th inst. 
I am afraid that your additional amount of print- 
ing will be hard for you. Do not be over-anxious 
for this world's goods, but lay up treasure in 
heaven. Your mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Corinth, Vt., Dec. 26, 1864. 

My Dear Children: Please excuse me for not 
writing before this time. I have been away from 
home, much of the time this fall, visiting at Dan- 
iel's home in Bradford and at Mr. Wason's home 
in Corinth. I received your kind letter of the 8th 
of October, but none since. My health is pretty 
good for me, but I see that I fail in many respects. 
I am thankful that I can keep about and wait upon 
myself. I hope you are both in good health. Har- 
riet gives me a convenient and pleasant room in 
her new house. Almira and her girls are well, 



AZRO B. E 1 . HILDRETB. 



&5 



but Mr. Wason's health is very poor. He ha§ a 
bad cough, but keeps about doing chores at the 
barn, &c. , caring for his stock, horses, cattle and 
sheep. I am afraid he will not recover from his 
cough very soon if ever, Daniel has much sick- 
ness in his family. He expects to sell the farm 
soon. Albert is still in the army. I have not 
heard from him in a long time. His wife must 
have a hard time in taking care of her five child- 
ren. They need the father's care. This world is 
full of trouble, and every one has a share, t anr 
almost through with it. 

Your mother, 

C. HlLDRETH. 



Corinth, Vt., August 22,- 1865/ 

Dear Children: How do you,' prqsper? Well, I 
hope. I am still in comfortable h,ealth: , I have' 
just returned from Almira's; have been , there two 
weeks and had an excellent visit. , She 'has two 
little girls, four and two years old; bright, ^smart 
girls. They are named Myra and Laura. Lyman 
and Harriet Porter, where I now have my home, 
have a plenty of work to attend to. I have not 
heard from Daniel and his family for some time; 
but I am going to see them soon. It is very sick- 
ly about here, and there have been several deaths 
from fevers and other complaints. Capt. Scrib- 
ner's daughter, Lucy Ann, is very sick, and not 
expected to recover. Benjamin Perkins is dead. 

Harriet is making a hair wreath, and wants 
some hair from you and Liveria and some of little 
Mary's. I received your letter and the books, 
also the present. I think I have as kind a son as 
any mother ever had, and I trust the Lord will 
reward you, if I cannot. I have not given up all 
hope of seeing you sometime. 

Albert's wife is getting along very well now. 
He sent her eighty dollars recently, from the 
army. Mr. Porter has given good security for my 



286 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

maintenance, and it is on record in the town 
clerk's office. His property is holden for my sup- 
port. I enjoy life very well here, but I think of 
the old home, and it seemed hard to leave it. 
Still, I think it was for the best that the farm 
should be sold. 

Lyman says his crops are coming in well. He 
has a good crop of hay. I will send you a letter 
from Albert. That will tell you more than I can 
write. Harriet will write before long. Excuse 
mistakes. Your affectionate mother, 

C. HlLDRETH. 



West Fairlee, Vt., March 28, 1869. 

My Dear Children: We have a new home. Mr. 
Porter having purchased a saw-mill and timber 
lot here, and engaged in the lumber business. He 
still owns his farms in Corinth. I have been sick 
with a cold this winter but am better now. I re- 
ceived the map and view of your town, and I think 
you live in a beautiful place. I hope you have all 
the comforts and enjoyments of life. But more 
especially I hope you have laid up treasure in 
heaven. Life is short. I can hardly realize that 
you are so old as you are and that I am seventy- 
four years old now. How rapidly time passes! 

I have received the papers that you sent me and 
thank you for them, and also for the many pres- 
ents that you have sent. I am afraid that you and 
Liveria both work too hard. I hope you and she 
will come and see me this summer. I have visited 
Almira this winter, and I intend to visit Daniel in 
Bradford this summer. I feel better to go from 
home some, and I should feel better still if I could 
visit you. 

It tires me to write and I must close. Lyman 
and Harriet send their respects to you and Liveria. 
Write soon. You are a good boy to your mother. 

Affectionately, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 287 

South Newbury, Vt., July 1, 1869. 

My Dear Children? I am here with Daniel and 
family, having a good long visit, and think that I 
shall remain here several weeks longer. They 
are all very kind to me, and my health has im- 
proved here, I received your letter here and hope 
you will write me here again before I leave. I 
thank you for the present that you sent. It en- 
ables me to buy with my own money some com- 
forts that I otherwise should not have. I have 
almost given up the hope of seeing you again, 
considering my age. I shall be seventy-five years 
old next Monday, July 5th. We received the pa- 
pers you sent and were much pleased with them. 
The girls like to read, and would like to have you 
send more. Daniel and Emeline both have poor 
health. Their little son, Philip, thirteen months 
old, is a forward child. He walks and can talk 
some. The two girls send love to their uncle and 
aunt. Your mother, 

C. Hildreth. 



South Newbury, Vt., Aug. 14. 1869. 

Dear Children: I am still stopping with Daniel's 
family. Daniel is having a cancer cut out of his 
face, and I have prolonged my visit here. Have 
you sold out your business? If so, I shall expect 
to see you. I pity Daniel. He works hard, and 
that makes his cancer worse. The rest of the 
family are as well as usual, The little boy grows 
finely. He looks like his father, and is quite a 
forward child. I do not get much news from 
Lyman Porter and Harriet, but I think they are 
well. My health is pretty good considering my 
age. Daniel and wife and the girls all send their 
best wishes to you and Liveria. Accept a short 
letter this time, and write soon as you receive this. 

Your mother, 

C. Hildreth. 



FAMILY LETTERS WQ 

Vershire, Vt., Oct. 3, 1869. 

Jfly Dear phildren: I am back here with Lyman 
a^ct Harriet once more, having been gone a long 
tinie, visiting at Daniel's and Almira's. I have 
had good visits and enjoyed myself very well. I 
am sorry to learn that Liveria's health is so poor. 
She and you should be careful and not work too 
hard. Daniel had a serious time with his cancer, 
but he, was better when I left hira. He came witfy 
me to Alniira's, I was there about three weeks. 
It is' a pleasure to visit my children. I wish I 
could visit all of them, you and Liveria with the 
rest. ' Lyinan's family are well. Write soon. It is 
next to seeing you to read your letters. 

Your affectionate mother, 

Clarissa Hildreth. 



Corinth, Vt., July 1, 1861. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Brother: Mother requests me to write the 
particulars of our sister Amelia's death more fully 
than she could do. She died May 19th, 1861, aged 
23 years, 6 months and 25 days. Poor sister. My 
eyes fill with tears when I think of her. Her 
home was about three miles from here. She lived 
about two weeks after her child was born, and was 
a great sufferer. I went to see her when her babe 
Yfas three days old. She was very low, and I 
thought that she did not have the right care. She 
had cold chills, lasting an hour or more. I staid 
With her two nights, when she appeared better 
and I came home. In two days I was sent for. 
She had more chills and had been vomiting. Oh, 
she looked like a corpse! I staid there three 
nights. The doctor gave her a great amount of 
opium, so he says. She had but one doctor. I 
don't think he knew how to treat her. I think her 
husband (Mr. Burt) did as well as he could. 
Amelia was calm and patient, and did not fear 
death. She named the little boy, and if it should 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 289 

be given away she wished you to have him and 
adopt him as your own. , But I think Samuel will 
not consent to that. Mrs. Clifford, she that was 
Abigail Scribner, now has the care of the child. 
You knew her well. She takes good care of him. 
It was sister Amelia's wish to be buried here at 
Corinth Corner. Poor girl! She was so good and 
has died so young. 

My little girls, Lovinia and Liveria, attend 
school this summer, and learn well. I received 
your paper giving an account of Amelia's death, 
for which I thank you. I wish you and Liveria 
both would write soon. Tell Liveria that I wish 
to see her and have a good long visit with her. 
Your affectionate sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Vershire, Vt., April 20, 1870. 

My Dear Brother Frank: It is with deepest sor- 
row I now write you. Must I say that our dear 
mother is dead? Yes, it is so. Her sainted spirit 
took its flight on Saturday, April 16th, 1870. Her 
age was 75 years, 9 months and 11 days. She had 
her senses to the last and died easy. A few min- 
utes before she died Lyman and I helped her to 
arise from the bed, but soon helped her back 
again. We gave her some stimulant, when she 
spoke and said she guessed she had enough. We 
saw that she was sinking. She tried to cough and 
died instantly. Oh, my dear brother, such a pleas- 
ant and happy smile as she gave me, just before 
she died, I can never forget. For two weeks pre- 
viously she had a cough and raised much matter, 
but no blood. There had been a sudden change 
in the weather and we all took a cold. Mother 
did not realize that she should die so soon, nor did 
any of us feel alarmed till the very last. Still she 
would sometimes say she guessed it was her last 
sickness. She spoke of you several times, and 
feared that you might be sick, or she should hear 
from you. She took her bed on Wednesday and 

37 



290 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

died on Saturday morning at seven o'clock. Mr. 
Porter did every thing" in his power for her com- 
fort. The funeral services were held at our house, 
and then poor mother was carried to Chelsea and. 
laid by the side of her husband, and our father. 
She had been a member of the church fifty-five 
years, and was a true Christian. Almira and Dan- 
iel were present at the funeral, and there was a 
large attendance of neighbors and friends. You 
will, of course, mention mother's death in your 
newspaper and send a copy to your brothers and 
sisters. I am almost worn out with care and grief. 
For three nights I could not sleep. Please write 
soon. Your bereaved sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., Jan. 23, 1881. 

Hon. A.B.F. Hildreth: 

My Dear Brother: Your kind letter of recent 
date was duly received. I was much pleased to 
hear from you. During the fall Lyman was at the 
Ely copper mines, and John was attending school 
at Cookville. Consequently I was left at home 
with only a hired man to look after home affairs. 
We shipped our poultry to Boston previous to 
•Thanksgiving day, six barrels of it, turkeys and 
chickens. 

Lyman has finished the Catholic church at Ely 
and is now at home. John is also at home and 
attends school in our district. He studies book- 
keeping and algebra, and reviews his common 
school studies. He intends to go to Montpelier or 
St. Johnsbury in the spring, to enter a prepara- 
tory school for college. We wish him to have a 
college education. He loves his books. 

Well, brother Prank, you have succeeded in the 
election of James A. Garfield for President. 
While the laws are being made at Washington, I 
hope the ladies will not be forgotten. Here in 
Vermont we ladies have the right to be town 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 291 

clerks, town superintendents of schools, and in 
school meetings we vote as well as the gentlemen. 
We may not do well at first, but we can learn. 

Tell Liveria that I did not think it would pay to 
send so far her Thanksgiving turkey, but really 
I should admire a bouquet from her house plants. 
I keep a few. I have several geraniums, a calla 
lily, oleander, fuschias, and several others. What 
kinds has Liveria? 

The Wasons are well, excepting Mr. Wason who 
is in rather poor health. Laura teaches school in 
Bradford. Myra is at home, a good girl, kind to 
her father and mother. Lyman says he would 
like to make you a visit, but it is hard to leave 
Vermont. The people say that Lyman has built a 
very nice church at Ely. They sent from the 
State of Maine to Lyman to draw a plan and fur- 
nish the specifications and estimates for large 
smelting works there, and also another in Cali- 
fornia, so you see he is kept busy. 

Lyman and John join me in sending much love 
to both you and Liveria. Please write soon. 

Your sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., April 10, 1881. 

Dear Brother Frank: Your letter of February 3d 
was duly received. We were happy to learn that 
you and Liveria have comfortable health. In look- 
ing over the report of the Charles City schools I 
notice that you have much interest in that direc- 
tion, and I am proud to know that you occupy such 
an honorable position. 

In regard to the poultry that you inquire about, 
I will say that for several years we have consigned 
it to Amos Keyes & Co. , commission merchants in 
Boston, and get a good price for it. They are 
honorable and reliable. 

Lyman has been at home all winter and has 
seemed quite happy. John is attending school at 



292 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

St. Johnsbury. It is a superior school and he 
likes it there very much. If he prospers we in- 
tend to send him to college and give him a liberal 
education.. His standing, marked on his last ex- 
amination card, was 100 per cent. He is in the 
classical department. 

Lyman and I send our best wishes to you and 
Liveria. Tell L. that I should much enjoy step- 
ping into her house and taking a look at her house 
plants. Affectionately your sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., March 12, 1882. 

My Dear Brother: It seems a long time since I 
have heard from you. It always gives me pleas- 
ure to hear from my brothers and sisters. I will 
confess that as I grow older I am inclined to be 
negligent about writing. We are well, and Lyman 
and I are enjoying ourselves quite well. John is 
still at the St. Johnsbury Academy, and says ' he 
shall graduate next spring. He was at home dur- 
ing the holidays, and expressed himself as much 
pleased with the letter that he had received from 
you. Lyman will now remain at home and attend 
to his farms next season. He went to Canada last 
December and bought two carloads of young cat- 
tle. He has now sold nearly half of them. How 
do you succeed with your railroad enterprise? 
How did your 80-acres of flax yield? 

I went to Almira Wason's last week, and found 
them all well. The girls were making black cash- 
mere dresses for their mother, and each other. 
Last week I received a letter from brother. Albert. 
He and his wife were well. His son Albin is dead. 
I presume he wrote you about it. I have not 
heard from sister Mary McCoy for some time. 

How is Liveria these days? Tell her that I 
have a calla lily in blossom; an oleander in bud; it 
is over five feet high. I have a lobster cactus, 
very thrifty; a double scarlet geranium; a single 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 293 

white one, and several other plants. Our room is 
so warm that I have not covered them one night 
this winter. I have poor luck with roses. 

Your old school-mate, Azro Hood, owns and 
lives on father's old farm in Chelsea, and is doing 
well. Lyman is one of the assessors of this town 
and is now quite busy. They wanted him for over- 
seer of the poor but he refused it. He sends his 
respects to you and Liveria, and hopes you will 
visit us next fall. Write soon. 

Your affectionate sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., July 9, 1884. 

My Dear Brother: Although it is a long time 
since I have written you, be assured that you are 
not forgotten. Lyman and myself are well, and 
we hope this letter will find you and Liveria en- 
joying usual health. I recently received a letter 
from brother Albert, but he did not speak of com- 
ing to visit us this summer. I felt disappointed, 
for I had hoped that he and others of our family 
would be here and we should enjoy pleasant visits 
with each other. Now, my brother, you and Li- 
veria must not disappoint us, for we are looking 
for you almost every day. 

John has graduated, and is now a teller in the 
National Bank at Littleton, N. £[. The cashier 
wrote that John had been recommended to him 
and requested him to accept the situation. John 
writes that he likes the place. He says he cannot 
leave to come home this summer, business is so 
urgent, owing to the large number of visitors to 
the White Mountains who have business with the 
Bank. 

We carry on both our farms here and do lots of 
business. I have eighty-two turkeys, seventy-five 
chickens, and twenty-six ducks. I have a lady 
here to help me do the work. Please give my love 
to Liveria. Your sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



294 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Corinth, Vt., Sept. 5, 1884. 

Hon. A.B. F. Hildreth: 

My Dear Brother: Your letter of July 16th was 
duly received. I was pleased to hear from you, 
but sorry to learn that you could not make us a 
visit this year, also that Liveria's health is so 
poor. Lyman and I are well. John is well. He is 
in the Bank at Littleton, N. H. , and likes it there 
very much. Since Mr. Wason (Almira's husband) 
died Lyman has been settling the estate. He says 
Almira will have the farm clear of incumbrance 
and something more. Almira and her girls are 
well. 

We yesterday attended the centennial celebra- 
tion of the settlement of Chelsea, Vt. It was very 
interesting, and I wish you could have been there. 
The history was written by Thomas Hale of Wind- 
sor, and read to the large audience by Matthew 
Hale of Albany, N. Y., and Wm. Hale, of Spring- 
field, Mass., all brothers, and your school-mates 
of earlier days. This history will be published in 
a pamphlet and the Hildreth family will be men- 
tioned in it. Your sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., Feb. 4, 1885. 

Dear Brother Frank: Your letter of Jan. 19th is 
before me, I was glad to receive it. and am always 
glad to hear from you. We are all in usual health. 
Lyman has been to Canada and bought two car 
loads of young cattle to feed this winter. He has 
too much business on his hands, but, as you say of 
Liveria, he has great energy. John is still in the 
Littleton Bank. We sold our poultry in Boston, 
and got 19J cents per lb. for turkeys, 15 cts. for 
chickens, 16 cents for ducks. 

Almira's daughter Laura is married to John 
Dickinson of Washington. I have been to see 
them. They are well off, and Laura has done well. 

We raised 2500 bushels of potatoes the past sea- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 295 

son, besides good crops of hay, wheat, oats, Indian 
wheat and barley. The potatoes are worth 40 
cents a bushel. 

The book concerning the centennial celebration 
of the settlement of Chelsea is published. I find 
in it a sketch of the Hildreth family. It speaks of 
father as a descendant of a good Puritan ancestry, 
in which Mr. Hale (the writer) and his family took 
much pride. He speaks of a son, A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, who was a pupil of his first school, and 
makes some other remarks about you; tells where 
you are, and says you have been successful in busi- 
ness. He also speaks of a daughter, Mrs. Lyman 
Porter, of Corinth, and of her having an only 
child, John L. Porter, who graduated at St. Johns- 
bury academy, in 1883, and is now employed in 
the Littleton, N. H., National Bank; and other re- 
marks about the Hildreth family. I will procure 
a copy of the publication and send it to you. 
Please give my love to Liveria. 

Your sister, 

Harriet N. Porter 



Corinth, Vt., May 9, 1886. 

My Dear Brother: You doubtless have heard of 
the death of our dear sister. Mary C. McCoy, in 
Lowell, Mass. Oh! how sudden and unexpected 
it was. A postal card from brother Albert told 
me she was sick and not expected to live. I start- 
ed for Lowell the next day, but when I arrived 
there poor Mary was dead and buried. She had a 
tumor on the right side of the abdomen, and for 
some reason they kept it a secret, although from 
the first the doctor said it could not be cured. 
Her husband feels his loss keenly, He said he 
did all he could for Mary. She was buried in 
Peterborough, N. H., by the side of three of her 
children who were buried there. Mary's daughter 
took care of her mother while sick. She is a good 
girl, and has many of her mother's good traits. 



296 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

John wants you should visit the White Moun- 
tains this summer and call on him at the Littleton 
Bank. Do come and take Liveria with you. 
Your affectionate sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., August 14, 1887. 

My Dear Brother: I received your letter in due 
season. I was very glad to hear from you and 
learn that you and Liveria are in comfortable 
health. I am in better health than I was some 
months ago, but the varicose veins in my limb still 
trouble me. I am obliged to keep it tightly ban- 
daged to prevent too much blood going to my 
ankle. Lyman is at home. He now has three 
farms to work and keeps three hired men. I have 
no play-days. I am fifty-six years old. When 
mother was at that age I thought she was an old 
lady. John is now employed in a bank in Boston 
on an increased salary, and works a less number 
of hours than he did at Littleton. He was at the 
latter place three years and was well liked. He 
visited Littleton recently, and says the President 
of the Bank there was so glad to see him that he 
shook hands with him till the tears came. 

I expect our niece, Mary C. McCoy, from Low- 
ell, will visit us this week. You ask about Laura 
(Wason) Dickerson. Her husband is able and 
keeps a hired girl to do their housework. She 
goes where she pleases, dresses nicely, carries a 
gold watch and chain, and if she is not contented 
it is her fault, not his. Her husband is an upright 
man in his deal, has money in a Montpelier Bank, 
drives a good team, and everything about his 
home looks thrifty and tidy. Give my love to 
Liveria. Write often. 

Your sister, 

H. N. Porter. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 297 

• Corinth, Vt., November 27, 1887. 

My Dear Brother: It is some time since I have 
written you, but you are not forgotten. My lame 
limb still troubles me, but I keep about and see to 
my work. Lyman is about as usual. A History 
of Orange County is to be published soon and I 
have subscribed for a copy. It will be published 
sometime in the winter. 

When Mary McCoy was here we visited the ' 'old 
home," to let her see where her mother was born 
and where her grandparents lived. The house is 
newly painted; the shed moved forward, and a 
room finished off in it; everything about the prem- 
ises looks nicely, well painted outside and in; the 
old shop where father worked so much is in the 
same place; that shop was a dear object to me, for 
I had spent many hours there at my plays and 
keeping fires on the hearth by putting on shavings 
so that father could see to work evenings. 

We hear from John every week. He is in the 
Bank at 45 Milk street, Boston, and is doing well. 
He is a capable, faithful, honest boy, and appears 
to be liked by every one. 

How is Liveria? I hope her health has im- 
proved. Tell her that I often look at her photo- 
graph and wonder if I shall never see her again. 
I hope that next summer we may all be together 
again. As ever, your affectionate sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., July 15, 1888. 

My Dear Brother: A few weeks ago I received a 
letter from the publisher, (Mr. Childs of Syracuse, 
N. Y.,) of the Orange County History, saying the 
book would soon be along. It has come. It is as 
good as I expected in the most part. It is a large 
8vo. volume of 792 pages. It has a map of Orange 
county and engravings of such men as Ex-Govern- 
or Roswell Farnham, Col. A. M. Dickey, Dr. D. K. 
Pearsons, Hon. W. H. Nichols, and Gen. Stephen 

38 



298 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Thomas. These men are your personal friends. 
The first half of the book is a record of events. 
There is a census table, a distance table, and then 
the business directory of the county. The history 
of the Hildreth family is very good. It occupies 
two or three pages, and one page is devoted to 
you and your history. It closes by saying that 
you sold out your newspaper and printing business 
in 1870 and retired to private life. Your record is 
honorable. I should like to have you see the 
book. I have promised it to John, but it is here 
yet and I well send it to you for examination. 

You asked about the Vershire copper mines. 
The mining company failed, and the business went 
into the hands of Ely Goddard and a Mr. Cazin. 
In 1883 all work was suspended and a riot oc- 
curred. There was a terrible ferment among the 
miners. The property for a time was in the hands 
of a mob. The trouble was finally settled and Mr. 
Cazin is now conducting the business. 

So far as I know, our friends here in Vermont 
are in usual health-. Give my love to Liveria. 
Affectionately, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Corinth, Vt., November 4, 1888. 

My Dear Brother: Your letter and the Orange 
County Book are received. The book came safely 
and is not in the least injured. How are you and 
Liveria? I am some better of my lameness. Ly- 
man is full of business. He has more than two 
hundred and fifty tuns of hay. At first he thought 
of pressing it and shipping it to Boston, but now 
he has bought about two hundred young cattle of 
a Canadian, at Danville, P. Q., and will feed out 
his hay here this winter, and then market the 
cattle. 

John came home from Boston in September. 
He is in the National Exchange Bank there and 
they have increased his salary. He and I went to 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 299 

South Newbury and visited Daniel's widow and 
son Philip, They seemed very comfortable. Phil- 
ip is twenty years old and of about the same size 
as his father was, whom he resembles. He is con- 
nected with a creamery at that place. 

Sister Almira was well when I last heard from 
her. Her daughters, Myra and Laura, have been 
to Lowell, Mass., visiting our relatives there. 
They enjoyed their visit very much. 

Tell Liveria that I have her photograph framed 
and put up in the parlor where we can see it often. 

Frank McCoy, our poor sister Mary's oldest son, 
sent me -his photograph and wrote a long letter. 
He says that his step-mother gives them a pleas- 
ant home, but it is not the home of his own mother. 
Your sister, 

• Harriet N. Porter. 



Lowell, Mass., April 11, 1886 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: I write this to tell you 
that my mother is very, very sick. The doctor 
says that she can live but a short time, perhaps a 
week. She has been unwell and failing for four 
months, and has had a complication of diseases. 
Her heart troubles her the most and distresses her 
very much. I have only time to write a few lines 
now. and will write again soon. Oh, I cannot lose 
my dear mother. What can we do without her? 

Your niece, 

Mary C. McCoy. 



Lowell, Mass., April 26, 1886, 

Dear Brother Hildreth: Your letter was duly re- 
ceived. I am full of grief. Your sister Mary, my 
dear wife, is dead and buried. She was all to me 
that a wife could be. When we were married I 
took her by the hand, and hand in hand we lived 
till her life was ended. She was a great sufferer 
while sick. She had her senses to the last. Her 



300 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

dying hours were calm and peaceful. We did for 
her all that care and money could do. Now my 
home is desolate. Dear brother you can sympa- 
thize with me; but oh how lonely we are! Please 
write often. Your bereaved brother, 

Charles McCoy. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: Father has not mentioned 
in his letter that aunt Harriet N. Porter has been 
here, but too late to see mother before she died. 
She stopped with uncle Albert most of the time 
while here. We were glad she came. She left 
for home to-day. She looked and appeared very 
much like mother. 

Father wishes to have me keep house for him 
and I shall do so for the present. My brothers 
are boarding near by and are all doing well. 

With good wishes for you and auntie, I remain 
Your loving niece, 

Mary C. McCoy. 



Lowell, Mass., Sept. 7th, 1887. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: I write to tell you about 
my visit to Vermont. I started the 15th of August, 
on the 9:15 a. m. train from Lowell and arrived at 
Bradford, Vt. , a few minutes past 3 o'clock p. m. 
There cousin Mary Wason, of Corinth, met me with 
a team, and a little after 6 o'clock that evening I 
was shaking hands with my aunt, Almira Wason, 
and her daughter Laura. I was very glad to be 
there and thus see my aunt and cousin for the first 
time. I had always heard that it was pleasant 
there and I truly found it so. 

On Wednesday we went to see aunt Harriet 
Porter, three miles distant, and met with a warm 
welcome there. A great amount of talking was 
done by us all. On Friday we visited Laura at 
her home in Washington, and on Sunday we all 
attended the M. E. Church near uncle Porter's. 
We next visited Chelsea. We went all over your 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 301 

old home and that of my mother — visited the Chel- 
sea cemetery where grandpa and grandma Hil- 
dreth rest, and so many of our relatives. I en- 
joyed my visit everywhere exceedingly. Every 
one tried so hard to entertain me. I feel very 
grateful for their kindness. 

Please write soon and tell us how you both are. 
Our Lowell friends are all well. 

Affectionately your niece, 

Mary C. McCoy. 

Brother Hildreth: Mary has had a very enjoya- 
ble visit to your native town. It does me about as 
much good to hear her talk about it as it would 
had I gone myself. Brother, it has been a very 
lonesome year to me, but Minnie is all that a 
daughter can be to a father, bereft as we have 
been. Edwin is married and lives near us. He 
has a nice wife and they are doing well. Prank 
and Allie are not married. The boys are all earn- 
ing money and prospering. As for me, I am still 
connected with the Lowell machine shop and am 
kept very busy. 

How is sister Liveria? I hope her health is im- 
proving. Give her my best wishes and write 
often. Your brother, 

Charles McCoy. 



South Newbury, Vt., Dec. 19, 1873. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: We received your letter 
the 28th of November. Father was glad to hear 
from you and very much pleased with the nice 
present that you sent him. Last night I also re- 
ceived your letter and the splendid present that you 
sent. I hardly know how to express my thanks. 
Mother often says she does not know what we 
should do without Uncle Prank. Father's cancer 
is growing worse. He suffers much and is losing 
all his flesh. He used to weigh 150 pounds. Now 
he weighs but 80 pounds. He is very patient. 
How we do wish you could come and see him. 



302 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

You know father was station agent here for the 
Passumpsic Railroad Company. Since he has been 
sick I have done all the business at the station, the 
last six months, with good success. The superin- 
tendent says I do the business as correctly as any 
agent on the road. 

We are having a cold winter, and the people are 
seeing hard times. Snow came, giving us good 
sleighing, on the 11th of November. 

Your affectionate niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



South Newbury, Vt., Feb. 9, 1874. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: Your letter was received 
Jan. 31st. We were all very glad to hear from 
you and learn Mat you were well. Father is fail- 
ing. He faints every time his cancer is dressed. 
It is on his face and is eating out his left eye. It 
is dreadful to see him suffer so^ much and think 
that he can be no better: He often wonders what 
we shall do when he is gone. "If it were not for 
hope the heart would break." 

We have good sleighing now. The thermometer 
has marked 30° below zero. We keep a fire night 
and day. Wood is 15.00 per cord, and our ex- 
penses are heavy. Flour is $12.00 a barrel; pota- 
toes 65 cents a bushel; good sugar 12 cts. a pound. 

I send you some Bradford newspapers. Please 
do write often. With love from us all to aunt Li- 
veria and yourself, I remain 

• Your affectionate niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



South Newbury, Vt., July 23, 1874. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: Our dear father is no 
more. He died at 11:40 o'clock last night. Yes- 
terday forenoon he was struck with paralysis of 
the brain, and after one o'clock p. m. , he could 
not speak. Oh! what can we do without him? 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 303 

The funeral will be at 2 o'clock p. m., July 24th. 
I cannot stop to write more. 

Affectionately, your niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



South Newbury, Vt., Aug. 2. 1874. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt: We received a letter from 
you last night, also one a few days previous, 
directed to sister Lucy. We are so sad and lonely 
I hardly know how or what to write. At about 
noon before father died mother dressed his sore 
and he said he felt better. He did not speak again. 
The doctor says the cancer had eaten through to 
the brain and paralyzed his whole system. It was 
his request to be buried in the Newbury cemetery, 
so that mother and us children can visit his grave 
often. The funeral was largely attended. The 
text for the sermon was: "The righteous man 
has hope in his death." Uncle Lyman Porter and 
aunt Hattie were here. Aunt Almira Wason was 
unable to come. We telegraphed to aunt Mary 
McCoy and uncle Albert Hildreth in Lowell, but 
they did not come. Mother had one sister here at 
the funeral. The neighbors were very kind to us. 
Father was 52 years and 4 days old. He had a 
great many friends here. One man remarked that 
he had not one enemy. The physician said he 
never saw a greater sufferer than father was, nor 
one who bore his suffering more patiently. Moth- 
er is all worn out with care and watching, and 
cannot feel reconciled to our loss. Father ex- 
pressed his gratitude to mother for her constant 
care. The money you sent mother was very ac- 
ceptable. G She thanks you a thousand times. God 
will reward you for your kindness. Write often. 
Your affectionate niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



304 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

South Newbury, Vt., June 15, 1880. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Uncle: It is my turn now to offer you an 
apology for so long neglecting to answer your 
kind letter, which I received last April, I was 
very glad to hear from you and auntie, and I hope 
you are both in good health at this time. We 
thank you very much for the papers that you have 
sent us. Brother Philip likes to read them and so 
do all of us. My health is very poor. I fear that 
I have consumption. Mother is not well. But my 
brother and sister Lucy have good health. 

We have not heard from our Corinth relatives 
for some time, but incidentally we learned that 
uncle Lyman Porter has contracted to build a 
Catholic church at the Vershire copper mines. 
Occasionally I go to St. Johnsbury and visit the 
family of A. L. Bailey there. He is wealthy and 
is doing a large business selling music and music- 
al instruments. St. Johnsbury is a pleasant place. 
Population 5000. Seven or eight churches, and 
the best school in the State. 

Miss Phebe McKeen is dead. She was the 
youngest daughter of Rev. Silas McKeen, D. D., 
of Bradford. She died in the car while on her 
way home from the South, and was buried at 
Bradford. 

We are having delightful weather now and the 
crops are looking finely. 

Mother joins me in sending love to you both. 
Your affectionate niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



South Newbury, Vt., Aug. 30, 1880. 

Dear Uncle Frank: I received your welcome let- 
ter about six weeks ago, and we were very glad 
indeed to hear from you and aunt Liveria, and 
learn that you both are enjoying life so well. 
Mother has been sick but is improving now. My 
health is poor. My lungs are so weak. I take 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 305 

pleasure in reading the papers that you send us. 
and thank you for them. My brother, also, is 
much pleased with the papers, He is now eleven 
years old and resembles his father. He attends 
school and learns well. He has many crying 
spells, because he has no father to care for him, 
and feels so badly about it. 

The Congregational church and society of Hav- 
erhill have built a new house of worship and are 
to dedicate it on Thursday. I attend the meetings 
there and am a member of that church. I saw 
Mr. Daniel Hurlbut of Bradford a short time ago, 
and he inquired about you. He now owns the Asa 
Low paper mill at Bradford. 

Every one is busy looking after his interests in 
the coming election. We are confident that your 
old friend, Col. Roswell Farnham, of Bradford, 
will be elected Governor. He often inquires for 
you when passing this way. 

Mother and brother join me in sending love to 
you and aunt Liveria. 

Your niece, 

Amanda L. Hildreth. 



Miss Amanda Lovinia Hildreth was a most ex- 
cellent young lady. The following notice of her 
early death is taken from a Vermont newspaper: 

Died, at South Newbury, Vt., October 1, 1879, of 
typhoid fever, Miss Amanda L. Hildreth, aged 
23 years, 8 months and 27 days. 

She was the only remaining daughter of the 
mother, who has within a few years buried her 
husband and another younger daughter aged 19 
years. 

Miss Hildreth assisted her father in the business 
of the South Newbury depot for some time before 
his death, as he was in feeble health, and after he 
died for several years carried on the business 
alone. 



306 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

In all her duties connected with the Railroad 
she showed a thorough knowledge of business, 
and her books were kept with perfect fidelity and 
honesty. 

1st Sabbath in May last, she united herself with 
the Congregational Church in Haverhill, N. H., 
where she has been in the habit of attending pub- 
lic worship and the Sabbath School for years, and 
was cordially welcomed as a member of the 
church, who have long regarded her as a Christian. 

Her funeral was attended at the bridge house on 
Sunday Oct. 3d, the services being conducted by 
her pastor, Rev. J. Q. Bittinger, assisted by Rev. 
G. N. Bryant, pastor of the Methodist Church of 
Haverhill. Her remains were deposited in the 
Cemetery at Newbury, and were followed by a 
large procession of friends and neighbors. The 
coffin was decorated outside and within with white 
flowers, and a profusion of flowers arranged in 
various forms was furnished by the many friendly 
acquaintances. All were very gratefully received 
by her afflicted mother but were powerless to as- 
suage the grief she feels at being thus deprived of 
her chief companion and support, in her widow- 
hood and feeble health. 

That the Father of the fatherless, and the God 
of the widow, may be to her and her young son a 
support and protection, is the wish and hope of 

A Neighbor. 

But mourn not in sorrow dear mother and brother, 
Our dear one has changed this life for only another, 
Let's think of her still living, still tender and true, 
Still loving and watching and waiting for you. 

When we cross the river, the beautiful river, 
And our life barges shall touch on the summer shore, 
How happy the meeting, how gladsome the greeting, 
How sweet the reunion with the loved gone before. 

Her toils are now over, her journey is done, 
Her mission completed, her race she has run ; 
It's sad to part with her when needed so much, 
But God who knows best ; His will be done. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 307 

Lowell, Mass., May 14, 1854. 

Dear Brother: I was very happy to receive your 
letter of recent date, and with pleasure and many 
thanks I receive your newspaper, the ''Holyoke 
Mirror, " which you so kindly send me. I was glad 
to learn that your business is prosperous, and that 
your health and that of your dear family is so 
good. I should like to visit Holyoke very much, 
but do not think I can conveniently this summer. 

Brother Frank, I would have a finished educa- 
tion if it were in my power, but you know our 
father has done all for his children that he can 
afford to do, and I have not the means myself, 
so I try to be contented and improve the ad- 
vantages that I now have. I often wonder why 
mortals should have implanted in their minds 
those ceaseless longings and aspirations that are 
never to be realized — or, it is so with me. I am 
ever wishing and striving for that which I do not 
possess; yet I doubt not I leave many blessings 
within my reach unimproved and unappreciated. 

We received a letter from home last week. They 
were all as well as usual, but I often think, as you 
remarked, that our parents are very old. Did 
they need my presence or care, gladly would I 
hasten to them. 

Mr. McCoy's people here are all well. I like 
them very much. They are thought of highly by 
the neighbors and are generally respected. 

Yesterday I saw your little Mary's baby cousin. 
He sends a sweet little kiss to his cousin Mary. 
He is a beautiful boy. I should like to see your 
little treasure. I suppose that she has grown so 
I should hardly know her. Please remember me 
kindly to sister Liveria and dear little Mary. I 
thank you for promising to write me often, and 
shall be very happy to receive your letters. 
Your affectionate sister, 

LOVINIA G. HlLDRETH. 



308 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Lowell, Mass., June 18, 1854. 

Dear Brother and Sister: This beautiful Sabbath 
morning I will spend in writing to you. I should 
have written sooner, but my time is wholly occu- 
pied. I am taking lessons in monochromatic draw- 
ing. I have finished one piece, entitled ' 'The Part- 
ing of Mr. and Mrs. Judson, on the Isle of 
France." I think it a beautiful piece on account 
of the association. The piece I am drawing now 
is a view of "Caldwell and Lake George." These 
are both large pictures. I think they will look 
well when framed. 

I have thought of the invitation that you and 
Liveria gave me to go to Holyoke and attend 
school. I appreciate the invitation and thank you 
for your exceeding kindness, but I cannot go this 
summer, and hardly think I can this fall. 

In your letter you praised my composition, pen- 
manship, &c. I think you flatter me too much, for 
I myself see mistakes, and of course you would see 
some that I would not see. When you write I wish 
you would point out my faults and I will try to 
correct them. 

I have received a letter from brother Daniel, 
stating his intention to marry. I expect that he is 
already the husband of a lovely wife. I am glad 
that he has made so good a choice, for I know her 
to be a lady of good family. She possesses a 
sweet and lovely disposition — a kind and noble 
heart. I trust that they will both be happy. 

Charles and Mary send their respects to you 
both, together with an invitation to visit them. 
Please excuse me for not writing more, for I feel 
much fatigued. Write soon. 

Your affectionate sister, 

LOVINIA G. HlLDRETH. 

Note. — This dear girl, the flower of the family, 
died of hemorrhage of the lungs in Lowell, Mass. , 
Aug. 21, 1854, only about two months after writing 
the above letter. Her age was twenty years. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 309 

Evansville, Ind., Dec. 13, 1857. 

Dear Brother and Sister: The ''Intelligencer" of 
the 3d inst. brings the sad news of your bereave- 
ment of your only dear little child. I condole with 
you, dear brother and sister, upon your loss, as I 
could not have done, had I not realized the joys of 
a parent. I little conceived how much a child 
could add to the pleasures of a parent, or how 
deeply an innocent little prattler could enlist the 
affections and sympathies of a fond parent, until I 
had realized the fact in my own experience. My 
own little affectionate child has so completely en- 
twined herself upon my affections that she seems 
a part of my own being, and, to be separated from 
her would be to be separated from the fondest and 
most holy tie that ever bound me to life. I con- 
ceive that you can hardly wish consolation except 
the sympathy of friendship. Your only real re- 
lief can be in weeping, not her loss, but your sep- 
aration from her pure spirit for a time ; the loss of 
her sweet companionship in life. You will hope 
to meet her spirit in another and better sphere, 
purified by a greater degree of excellence than 
she could have attained to, surrounded by the 
seductive influences of a worldly life. -'Of such," 
we have the best assurance, ' k is the Kingdom of 
Heaven." 

I have been unusually well this season. Mary, 
my wife, is always well. We are having very 
mild, pleasant weather. 

Please write soon and tell us all about your little 
Mary's illness. Our little Lizzie is so sorry for 
her little cousin — so sorry she could not have seen 
her before she died. Accept our love and condo- 
lence for you both, and remember us to father and 
mother. Your brother, 

J. W. Knight. 



310 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Camp Recruits, Alexandria, Va., Jan. 3, '63. 

Brother Frank and Sister Liveria: I have written 
you twice before this, but have received no an- 
swer. I enlisted at Thetford, Vt., went to Brad- 
ford and drilled two weeks, and then went to Bur- 
lington, Vt., where I was mustered in, and from 
there came to this camp. The regiment that I be- 
long to is the Ninth Vermont. This is the Regi- 
ment that were taken prisoners at Harper's Ferry, 
and paroled. There were five or six more Regi- 
ments taken at the same time. They were under 
Col. Miles. He sold the whole of them to Stone- 
wall Jackson for fifteen hundred dollars, and then 
died. The last that we heard of the Regiment 
they had been paid off and were coming to Wash- 
ington. They had but five hundred and ninety 
men, and my Company only thirty -three men all 
told. 

When we left Burlington we took the cars to 
Troy, and then a boat down the Hudson to New 
York. The weather was fine and we enjoyed the 
trip. From New York we proceeded to Philadel- 
phia, and there had a good supper at the Soldiers' 
Retreat. In the morning we took the cars for 
Baltimore, and after supper came to Washington. 
There they fed us on mouldy, sour bread, live 
meat, and greasy, muddy eoffee. That is the way 
they make money out of the soldiers. From 
Washington we came here, and here we are now, 
and have all we want to make us comfortable. I 
have been promoted to Sergeant and have over a 
hundred men to look after. In the morning at 
half past six I have roll-call, and at seven make a 
report of the same, and on this I get a requisition 
to draw the boys' rations. I get along first rate. 
I have the good will of the officers, for I have done 
every thing faithfully and promptly, and have 
made no mistakes as yet. I draw extra pay. My 
health is good. Our camp is in sight of the capi- 
tol, and one mile west of Alexandria. 

I received a letter from my wife yesterday. She 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 311 

and the children were well. She says that your 
little namesake/Frank, is a nice fellow. He sits 
up alone and eats apples, and wants one in each 
hand. Liveria, you would like to see my little 
family of children. You would say they are pretty 
children. Our little Clara is a nice girl, so good; 
it would be a comfort to be at home with the little 
ones, and when they go to bed hear them say, 
l, good night, papa and mama," and have little 
Clara climb to my lap and smother me with kisses. 
The three oldest go to school. 

The last that I heard from mother she was well. 
Sister Harriet Porter has seen a hard time in the 
death of her three little girls. They were pretty 
children. I hope that soon I can go home to my 
family, and that the war will have ended. When 
peace is established we shall have a stronger 
Union than we ever had before, and one that will 
never be divided. 

Now, Frank and Liveria, please write me a good 
long letter." Direct to 9th Vermont Regiment, 
Camp Recruits, Alexandria, Virginia. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Camp of the Ninth Vermont Regiment, 

Near Suffolk, Va., April 29, 1863. 

Deai' Brother and Sister: On the 18th inst. we 
had orders to proceed to Fortress Monroe. We 
took a boat down the Potomac and the day was 
pleasant. We passed many large plantations and 
any number of negro huts. The negroes were 
plowing with three horses abreast, or perhaps two 
horses and a mule. There were many blockading 
steamers in the river, as well as numerous trans- 
portation boats. Our boat came to anchor under 
the guns of Fortress Monroe and we slept on board 
that night, and then came to this place. The rebs 
are in sight of our camp on the opposite side of 
the river. They are fortified. Two days ago we 



312 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

went across the river and took part of a battery, 
four guns, and two hundred and eighty prisoners. 
We made a nice thing of it, and our loss was tri- 
fling. The Ninth Regiment has got a good name. 
I got a letter from you since I came here which 
you wrote in March and was glad to receive it. 
Please write often. Your brother, 

A. G. HlLDRETH, 



Company "G' 1 Ninth Vermont Regiment, 

Yorktown, Va., July 10, 1863. 

Brother Frank: We are now at Yorktown, the 
celebrated battle-ground where Cornwallis surren- 
dered in the time of the Revolution. I have been 
all over the grounds. The place is strongly forti- 
fied. I think we shall remain here some time. 
There are two other Regiments in this Brigade 
here. It is Wister's Brigade. We are receiving 
good news every day, and are having* great victo- 
ries all over the country. This rebellion has its 
back broken, and we hope to be at home soon. 
This war would have ended before now were it not 
for the Copperheads of the North. They are 
worse than twice their number at the South. I 
have been over some of the battle grounds here in 
Virginia, where a great many lives were lost. 
The graves tell the story. The ground is covered 
with broken guns and any quantity of shot and 
shell. It is half a mile across the river here. 

My wife and children need me at home. So is 
it with thousands of other families. But we are 
here fighting to put down this rebellion and re- 
store our glorious Union of States. This is a very 
wicked war, caused because the slaveholders de- 
sired to extend and perpetuate slavery, and the 
North was opposed to it. Some think we are 
fighting to free the slaves. That is not true. 

I have seen this day more than fifty thousand of 
our men, artillery, cavalry and infantry, all mov- 
ing on to put down this rebellion. The capture of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 313 

Vicksburg is good news. During the last three 
weeks I have seen more than 5000 negroes. They 
ran away from their masters; or rather their mas- 
ters ran away from them, to fight in the rebel 
army. Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



New Berne, N. C., Aug. 20, 1864. 

Dear Brother Frank: I received a letter from 
you yesterday, and was glad to learn that you and 
Liveria are well. I have not been well of late. It 
is three months since I have been off of duty, and 
part of the time in the hospital. I came back yes- 
terday to the company. The "shakes" took hold 
of me and I had them pretty hard. 

Well, Frank, this war is not closed yet, but as 
things look now it cannot last long. Before Jan- 
nary I think Gen. Grant will have Richmond, and 
then the re-election of President Lincoln will have 
its influence. 

Our Regiment came here four weeks ago. Some 
parts of this country are good and some of it is 
very poor. In this city now, there are about 
14.000 people, 8,000 of them are blacks. And out- 
side in the Black City there are some 15,000; so 
you see, it is pretty black here! 

My family are getting along comfortably, but 
they need me. Mary (my wife) writes that little 
Frank is a nice boy. I wish you could see him. 
Please write often. Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Camp of the Ninth Vermont Regiment. 

Richmond, Va., May 4. 1865. 

Brother Frank: I write a few lines to inform 
you that I am well. I have written you several 
times but get no answers. I hope you and Liveria 
are well. We are noiv in Richmond, noted as a se- 
cesh place; but there are many Union men here, 

40 



314 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

who have always been true to the old flag. They 
were under military rule and could not help them- 
selves. The news of the assassination of Presi- 
dent Lincoln was sad news for the soldiers. He 
was a great and good man, and we all loved him. 
I saw him a short time ago. He was here at our 
Camp and reviewed it and the Army of the James. 
He was welcomed by every soldier, and they gave 
him cheer after cheer. He seemed delighted, and 
well he might be, for ours is a splendid army. 

It will not be long uow before I shall be at home 
with my dear wife and children. Mary (my wife) 
has not been very well this spring but is better 
now. Some think that we shall have to go to 
Washington, and there be reviewed and mustered 
out of the U. S. service. But one thing is certain; 
this war is soon to close. There will not be any 
more fighting. The different rebel armies are sur- 
rendering as fast as there is a chance for them. 
Our victories have been won with cannon and bay- 
onet. You have heard people say peace could not 
be achieved in that way — well, it has been. Croak- 
ers have said we could have peace if we would 
leave them alone. What! let them spread desola- 
tion in the North? They have even entered Ver- 
mont and shot down innocent men and women and 
children! 

I wish you could see what strong works the reb- 
els had around Richmond. No army in the world 
could have taken it on a charge. There are forts 
in every direction. But Gen. Grant took Rich- 
mond, as he did Vicksburg, by surrounding it and 
cutting off Gen. Lee's supplies. Our Regiment was 
the first to enter the city. The ''Ninth Vermont" 
held the picket line, and when we got within one 
mile I thought there would be some hard fighting. 
There was one continual roar of what I took to be 
cannon, but we soon found it was the bursting of 
shells. We came in at one side of the city and the 
rebs were going out at the other. But before 
leaving they set fire to all their stuff that they 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 315 

could not take with them. There were three arse- 
nals full of shot and shell. They set them on fire 
so they should not fall into our hands. By these 
explosions the houses were completely riddled. 
Most of the buildings are of brick. Things here 
look better now. Northern men have come in and 
opened stores and business is lively. As I sit 
writing I can see the troops passing by. They 
are on their way to Washington. It is a great 
sight to see fifty thousand men, all under arms, 
with their bayonets glistening in the sun. We ex- 
pect to go home in a few days, and how happy I 
shall be to meet and mingle with loved ones again. 
I will write you then from home. 

Your brother, 

A. G. HlLDRETH. 



Lowell, Mass., May 11, 1879. 

Brother Frank: I received your welcome letter 
by due course of mail, and was glad to hear from 
you and know that your health is good; but we 
are sorry to learn that Liveria's health is so poor. 
I was very glad to receive the history of the Tyler 
family which you sent me. I have seen several of 
the persons named in that sketch, viz: Uncle Amos 
Tyler and his son Damon; aunt Lydia Boynton; 
aunt Theodosia Torsey; and aunt Eliza Blood; all 
mother's brothers and sisters. I have been to 
their houses several times. Uncle Blood is dead, 
and aunt Eliza is living with her son Horatio, at 
Wentworth village, N. H. He is worth property 
and has a fine lady for his wife. I value these 
genealogical records highly, and thank you for 
them. 

I have a copy of the History of the Coos coun- 
try, N. H., and I find in it that in 1768 David Tyler 
and Daniel Tyler came to Piermont, N. H. David 
Tyler, his wife, and son Jonathan, (our mother's 
father,) came from Lebanon, Connecticut. I find 
that Jonathan married Sarah McConnell, a young 



316 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Scotch girl, our mother's mother. Then I find 
that Jonathan served in the Revolutionary War; 
also that he was taken prisoner and had a marvel- 
ous escape. 

This is a beautiful day. Cherry trees are in 
blossom. Abbie's health is better. She attended 
church yesterday. She sends sisterly love to you 
and Liveria. Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



The following is a copy of a letter from Capt. 
Albert G. Hildreth, who went to Pepperell, Mass., 
to find an old family Bible, said to contain records 
of the Hildreth family, which was known to have 
been in possession of Sally Hildreth, Daniel Hil- 
dreth's sister, before she died: 

Lowell, Mass., Sept. 9, 1878. 

Brother Frank: I will tell you what I have done 
in regard to finding the old Bible. On the 19th of 
August I went to Peperell, to learn what I could 
of Sally Hildreth. I went to the Town Clerk's 
office and found the Clerk a very pleasant and 
obliging gentleman, and ready to show me all he 
had of the records. We found the record of our 
grandfather, James Hildreth, and his family, all 
correct. I found that Sally Hildreth was born 
October 11, 1792, but there was no record of her 
death. The Clerk said he had held his office sev- 
enteen years, and when he took the office he found 
the old records very imperfect and some of them 
had been lost. He directed me to certain men 
who, he thought, could give me the information I 
sought. I saw those men, but was not very suc- 
cessful. Lastly, I went to the old place where our 
grandfather lived. On this place I found a Major 
Heald. He told me that he was born on the ad- 
joining farm, that he remembered our grandfather 
well, and that the old place went out of his hands 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 317 

to one Smith. He remembered that Sally Hildreth 
came there to Smith's to visit the old place, but 
she was not living in Pepperell at that time. He 
thinks that she then resided in one of the adjoin- 
ing towns. It was about fifty years ago. This 
was all that he knew about her. But he told me 
there was a Deacon Henry Jewett in Pepperell 
who, he thought, could tell me more than any oth- 
er one there about our aunt Sally. I did not have 
time to look up Deacon Jewett, but Major Heald 
said he would see him for me and write me the 
result. I have written Deacon Jewett, but as yet 
have received no answer. Major Heald told me 
that Sally Hildreth was an "old maid" when he 
last knew her. Frank, if it is possible to get that 
old Bible I will have it. 

Well, Frank, I suppose you would like to know 
what I saw there at the old childhood home of our 
father. I found it a splendid place, and in Major 
Heald and wife I found a perfect gentleman and 
an accomplished lady. They seemed much pleased 
to see me and gave me a history of themselves 
and the old place. They are very wealthy. Ev- 
erything in and around the house showed wealth 
and luxury. They took me all over the house. It 
contains almost every thing that money can buy.' 
There is a mammoth library in a splendid case 
which fills one side of the room, also a smaller 
case with smaller books. The house is two sto- 
ries high. Two of the rooms have the same finish 
that grandfather Hildreth gave them when he 
built the house. It is all mouldings and fancy 
work. Major Heald said that a man worked all of 
one winter finishing one of the rooms. Both are 
splendid. They are painted white. The papering 
is costly, and the furniture very expensive. Major 
Heald has made large additions to the house, such 
as milk-room, bath-room, wash-room, &c. The 
barn is large and nice, and very convenient. 
Major Heald showed me the spot where the first 
house stood, in which father was born. He then 



318 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

took me out to see the farm. It is in a high state 
of cultivation; had large heavy crops of grain; a 
peach orchard of six hundred trees; grapes cover- 
ing a half acre of land; a large apple orchard, in 
which are still some of the old trees, and all hang- 
ing full of grafted fruit. Then there is a great, 
large, big pear tree which had quite a quantity of 
pears on it. Maj. Heald said there never had been 
a year when this tree did not bear more or less 
fruit. The house, when first built, had a square 
or hip roof. This was taken off by Major Heald, 
and a two or double roof substituted. The farm 
and buildings are first best. I expected to find an 
old worn out farm and dilapidated buildings, and 
no woodland, but was most happily disappointed. 
Major Heald says there is plenty of timber, with 
careful treatment, to last for many years. After 
seeing all this it was time to go to the train, which 
was about one mile distant. Were you ever at this 
old place? [Never.] 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., August 11, 1879. 

Brother Frank: We have just returned from a 
visit to our friends in Vermont. Were gone over 
two weeks, and had a pleasant time. We took the 
train here at 9 o'clock, a. m. , for South Royalton, 
Vt. There we took the mail coach for Chelsea, 
and then engaged a team to take us to Lyman 
Porter's, at Corinth Corner. We found Harriet 
and her son John at home, but Lyman was at the 
copper mines in Vershire. Harriet was pleased to 
see us. Abbie was fatigued by her long ride, but, 
after a good night's rest, was all right again. On 
Tuesday in the afternoon I raked hay. On Wed- 
nesday John and I went to gather raspberries and 
had good luck. On Thursday Harriet. Abbie and 
I went to see Almira Wason. Found her and the 
girls all well. Almira has grown old but is active. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 319 

Her husband is infirm and does not work much. 
Their daughters, Myra and Laura, are smart girls. 
I was pleased to note their kindness to their father 
and mother — always ready and willing to help, and 
always had pleasant words for them. 

On Friday John and I went to father's old home. 
Found Mr. Hood, the owner, and family all well. 
He was engaged at haying. His crops are good. 
After going all over the house and other build- 
ings, we took a look over the grounds, the old 
orchard and up over the hill. We found some 
changes in the fencing, but generally the farm 
looked natural, and everything was in good con- 
dition. Mrs. Hood blew the horn for dinner and 
we all responded, of course. Mr. Hood and wife 
received us very cordially and gave us a good re- 
past. After dinner John and I went fishing in the 
old trout brook where you and Almira loved to 
fish so much. We caught a few, not many. 

The Hood family did all they could to make our 
visit pleasant, but no father nor mother, no broth- 
er nor sister, was there. Some had gone to their 
rest over yonder, and we are soon to follow. 

We returned to Harriet's in season for supper. 
On Saturday John and I went to the copper mines, 
in Vershire; found Lyman there, and after survey- 
ing the mines in all their parts took supper with 
Lyman, then hitched up our horses and all return- 
ed to the Porter home, A pleasant home it is. 
On Sunday we all attended divine service in the 
Methodist church. The preacher's text was: Ga- 
latians, sixth chapter, seventh verse: "Whatso- 
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap." On 
Monday we remained at home. 

On Tuesday Harriet, John, Abbie and I, all went 
to Chelsea. There we visited the old cemetery, 
and then once more I saw the mounds that cover 
those who were so dear to us. For the first time 
I saw our dear mother's grave. Here lies her 
body, but mother is in Heaven! We took dinner at 
Hackett Scribner's. His excellent wife entertain- 



320 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

ed us cordially, Many old acquaintances gave me 
a cordial greeting. On our return we stopped at 
the old home of our childhood, and I had the 
pleasure of showing my wife where I was born. 
She was much interested in everything about the 
place. 

On Thursday Abbie, John and I went to the 
Wason home again and had an excellent visit. We 
remained with Harriet on Friday, and on Saturday 
Abbie and I visited Lyman's mother, who is nine- 
ty-three years old. We also called on Capt. Josiah 
Scribner, and an old school-mate of mine. This 
was a happy day for us; seeing so many old friends 
whom I can never forget. 

On Sunday we attended church again, and on 
Monday, with many regrets, took our departure 
for our Lowell home. Lyman carried us to West 
Fairlee; there we took the stage coach for the 
railroad depot at Thetford, and before night we 
were again at our home in Lowell. 

Our Vermont visit was indeed a pleasant one. 
Everyone tried to make us happy, and we shall 
ever hold the many greetings there in grateful 
remembrance. 

Your namesake, Frank, is with ' us and is a 
very steady boy. Abbie sends her love to you and 
Liveria. Your brother. 

Albert G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Aug. 29, 1880. 

Br other Frank: I received a letter from you, of 
July 5th, and should have answered it before now. 
Please excuse delay. We are all as well as usual. 
I received a letter from Harriet N. Porter a few 
days ago. She and her son John are well. Ly- 
man is at the copper mines, as usual. We are 
sorry you and Liveria cannot visit us this fall. 

Since making my home here in Lowell I have 
made the acquaintance of a large number of very 
good people. Lowell is growing quite rapidly. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 321 

We now have 60,000 inhabitants — a large increase 
in the last ten years. Many houses are being- 
built here this season, and the people are general- 
ly prosperous. 

You enquired about Gen. B. F. Butler in your 
last letter. Well, he has gone back to the Demo- 
cratic party, and I think he has given up the hope 
of ever being Governor of this State. I suppose 
the Democrats are pleased to have him come back 
to them, but what are they to do with him, or 
what can they do for him? He once said: "I am 
not like a maiden, but am more like a widow, I 
know what I want and am not ashamed to ask for 
it." You know his wife was our cousin. 

Here in Lowell the Republicans are well organ- 
ized. We have our Garfield Clubs, and have an 
organization of the "Boys in Blue." These old 
veterans are all doing a good work. In Ward 
Three, where I live, I was the first man to sign 
the roll, and received the hearty cheers of my 
comrades. We shall carry most of the Northern 
States for Garfield, but there is no prospect of 
getting a single Southern State. Wade Hampton 
says theyare fighting now for the same principles 
that Lee and Jackson fought for; which means 
they intend to rule us. It is a pity that many of 
those rebels were not hung, or at least that all the 
rights of an American citizen were not taken from 
them forever. . The South want all the money of 
the Government at Washington, and they would 
cut our throats in order to get it. Just look at the 
claims already put in against the Government! 
And millions more will be demanded should Han- 
cock be elected President. I cannot understand 
why Northern Democrats should persist in going 
with them. Where is their patriotism? 

Please look at the items I have marked in the 
Boston Herald. The editor is a Democrat. Three 
days in the week his paper is for the Republicans 
and the next three for Democrats. Then on Sun- 



322 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

day it is "independent." But the editor does not 
like Gen. Butler. 

Accept thanks for the papers you have sent. 
Remember us to Liveria with much love. 
Your brother, 

Albert G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Oct. 31, 1880. 

Brother Frank: Your letter of the 21st inst. is 
received. We were pleased to hear from you, but 
sorry that Liveria's health is so poor. We are all 
in usual health. I was surprised to hear of the 
death of our niece, Amanda L. Hildreth, at South 
Newbury, Vt. I, too, mourn her loss. She was 
our brother Daniel's oldest daughter, and was a 
good girl of superior abilities. Her loss must be 
great to her mother, and we sincerely sympathize 
with her in her bereavement. It is gratifying to 
know that Amanda was so much respected by 
friends and neighbors, and that she was an exem- 
plary Christian. 

Well, brother Frank, Garfield is to be elected 
for our next President. Lowell will go for him, 
notwithstanding Ben. Butler's opposition, and his 
torch-light processions. The Garfield men are 
well organized. The ' 'Boys in Blue, " here in Low- 
ell, number six hundred men, all old veteran sol- 
diers. Each Ward has a Company. , I was elected 
Captain of the Company for my Ward, the 3d. 
We are all officered the same as in war time. The 
Colonel has put me on his staff. The uniform of 
Staff Officers is a black felt hat, with gilt band; 
blue coat with gilt buttons, and army blue pants. 
"Garfield and Arthur" are words worn on hat and 
coat. Wherever we go the "Boys in Blue" receive 
much attention from the people, which shows 
what is thought of Grant's old veteran soldiers. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



azro b. f. hildreth. 323 

Lowell, Mass., Nov. 20, 1880. 

Well, Brother Frank, the election passed off all 
right. Garfield and Arthur are elected, and our 
united States are to go on prospering and to pros- 
per. Everyone is now getting ready for Thanks- 
giving. Our markets are well supplied with tur- 
keys and all the other etceteries for the feast. 

You said Iowa would give Garfield 50, 000 plural- 
ity, but instead of that I see nearly 80,000. Good 
for Iowa. I hope we shall now have a Republican 
administration with all that the name implies. 
Let none but loyal and true Republicans be ap- 
pointed to office. Give us none of the milk and 
water doings of Hayes, but kick out every "reb" 
wherever found. 

Well, after eating your Thanksgiving supper, 
please tell me all about it. We have now no fa- 
ther nor mother to call us home to Thanksgiving, 
as in former days, but the memory of those dear 
parents and our loved brothers and sisters is fresh 
in our minds, — the times when we, a happy family, 
used to be all gathered around the table at repast, 
morning, noon and night. Abbie sends kind wish- 
es to you and Liveria. Write soon. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Aug. 20, 1883. 

Brother Frank: Your letter of July 30th was 
duly received. We are glad to get your kind let- 
ters. They have found us all well. We are 
pleased to learn that you and Liveria are well, as 
usual. 

You know that our grandmother Hildreth was a 
Fletcher. Well, the Fletchers are to have a re- 
union here on the 22d inst. I expect that Abbie 
and I will meet with them, as we have been earn- 
estly requested to do so, and take dinner with 
them. The committee on arrangements here have 
assurances that about four hundred Fletchers will 



324 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

be present. Their proceedings will be published 
in book form. 

I am pleased to learn that your farmers are hav- 
ing excellent crops this year. This must be en- 
couraging to all branches of business. 

I have received the Floyd County (Iowa) History 
that you so kindly sent me, and sincerely thank 
you for it. We prize it highly. 

You ask if Ben. Butler will be re-elected Govern- 
or of Massachusetts. If money and his old tricks 
will accomplish it he will be. He will receive all 
the Irish Catholic vote, but it is doubtful about his 
holding many of the native American Democrats. 
Some of the former Butler men have left him. 
Then there are some no-principle Republicans that 
voted for him before, who are uncertain. They 
said they wanted to see what the old fellow will 
do. He told them that, if they would elect him 
Governor, he would show them what thieves had 
been doing and where their money had gone. He 
has not done so yet. Perhaps he will if he can 
get another election, but I think he will be defeat- 
ed. 

Abbie sends love to you and Liveria. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Dec. 25th, 1883. 

Brother Frank: Your letter of the 14th inst. is 
received. We were glad to hear that you and 
Liveria are in comfortable health; also, that you 
had so good visit in Chicago. We are usually 
well. Strange to say, we now have ten inches of 
snow and good sleighing here in Lowell. 

Gen. Butler is defeated for Governor, but our 
city elected most of the Democratic ticket again. 
The Mayor is a Catholic and his appointments are 
mostly Irish Catholics. Last year they licensed 
500 liquor shops and this time it may be 5,000, all 
Irish ! 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 325 

What do you think of Carlisle for Speaker of 
the House at Washington? He is for Free Trade, 
and was a rabid secesh. Well, let the. Democrats 
go their length. The people will get enough of 
them ere long and then they will be ousted. 

Business in Lowell is good. The mills are all 
running, and the machine shop is having all it can 
do. 

Abbie joins me in sending kind regards to you 
and Liveria. Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., January 11, 1885. 

Brother Frank: Your letter of the 8th ult. was 
duly received. Abbie has been quite sick during 
the last few weeks, but is now improving. We 
are pleased to learn that Liveria is in better health. 

Well, Cleveland has been counted in, but the peo- 
ple did not elect him. But here in Lowell we made 
almost a clean sweep. Of aldermen we have one 
Democrat and seven Republicans; of councilmen, 
eight Democrats and eighteen Republicans. For 
the last two years we have had Democratic rule 
and Catholic at that! All Irish. We have a plenty 
of rum and an empty treasury! 

I think that during the coming year we shall 
have more new buildings put up than for many 
years past. 

We hope you and Liveria will come and make us 
a good long visit next season. 

Abbie sends her love to you both. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., April 18, 1886. 

Brother Frank: We have received your. kind let- 
ter of the 13th inst. It is with a sad heart that I 
write at this time. Our dear sister Mary C. McCoy 
is dead! She died on Thursday morning. Funeral 



326 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

services were held at the house on Saturday morn 
ing, and she was buried at Peterborough, N. H. , 
where she had three children buried. The cause 
of her death was a tumor in the right side, near 
the top of the hip bone. Her death was sudden 
and unexpected to me. 

Brother Frank, only four of us are now left. 
We know not whose turn will come next. 

I shall write to Almira and Harriet. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Oct. 17, 1886. 

Brother Frank: How are you and sister Liveria? 
We are all getting along comfortably. Abbie is 
better now than she was a few weeks ago. Jimmy 
goes to school and loves his books. Your name- 
sake, Frank, now at sea, writes that he shall come 
home next month. He was at Leghorn, Italy, 
Sept. 16th. Before arriving there he was at Bey- 
rout, Syria, Aug. 22d. The vessel stopped at Port 
Said, Egypt; then at Tripoli, Africa; and was at 
Malta, Sept. 7th. On their return they will land 
at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Frank has had 
opportunity to see some of the world. 

I cannot call my health good, because I am 
troubled so much with rheumatism and pleurisy. 
Sometimes the pain is very severe. I have had 
these troubles since 1864, ever since I was in the 
army, but I manage to keep up and about my work 
most of the time. The pains and soreness are in 
my arms and shoulders, and frequently at the back 
of my neck. Sometimes my legs are affected. I 
am glad that the trouble is not confined to one 
place. 

One of your neighbors, Mr. B. A. Stevens, called 
on me the other day. He is a very pleasant gen- 
tleman. Kindly remember us to Liveria. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 327 

Lowell, Mass., Feb. 4, 1888. 

Brother Frank: It is some time since I have 
heard from you. Our Eastern papers say people 
out West are all frozen to death. They put the 
number of deaths by freezing at 1500! Is it so bad 
as that? I cannot believe it. Well, Lowell is a 
Republican city, and we are thankful that the 
Catholic Irishmen have to take back seats. The 
better class of Yankee Democrats told the Repub- 
licans to nominate good men and they would sup- 
port them. This was done. 

Brother Frank, we are getting to be old men. 
We ought to think much of each other. When I 
think of my boyhood days, and of our old home 
and its surroundings, when our father and mother 
cared for us, and for all our brothers and sisters, 
I feel sad to know that only four of that large 
family are left. Every day I think more and more 
of that happy home. How I wish we lived nearer 
each other. 

Abbie speaks often of you and Liveria. We 
hope our sister Liveria's health will improve, and 
that she may be well again. We expect our Frank 
home soon. He will land at Norfolk, Va. 

Your brother, 

A. G. Hildreth. 



Lowell, Mass., Feb. 28, 1888. 

Brother Frank: Your recent letter was duly re- 
ceived. We were very glad to hear from you, and 
to learn that Liveria is improving. 

Yes, we have had some cold weather here, but 
the western people must have a hard time. I am 
glad it was not so bad as the papers represented. 

I received a letter from my Frank some ten days 
ago. He has arrived at Hampton Roads, Va. , and 
we expect to see him soon. 

Now that Blaine is out of the way the Democrat- 
ic papers say he is a great statesman, and no one 
is his equal. Well. I agree with them. 



328 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

We expect a large amount of building here in 
Lowell the coming season. We are to have a new 
city hall, and a new Government building to cost 
1200,000.00. 

Our little Jimmy Garfield goes to school -and 
learns finely. He is quite a large boy and is grow- 
ing fast. 

Abbie joins me in sending best regards to you 
and Liveria. We hope you and she can come and 
make us a visit next summer. We want to see 
you both. Your brother, 

A. G. HlLDRETH. 



Lowell, Mass., Sept. 2, 1888. 

Brother Frank: Your recent letter found us in 
comfortable health. We are pleased to learn that 
you are well and Liveria is gaining health and 
strength. Almira's daughter, Laura Dickinson, 
writes that her mother is poorly. She says they 
found it difficult to obtain help for haying. Hands 
asked $2. 50 per day, and poor help at that, Here 
in Lowell business is good — machine shop full of 
orders, and factories all running. 

The papers here are full of Blaine's speeches. 
I send you a paper giving Ben. Butler's speech in 
Boston. He has turned Republican again, as you 
will see. Did you know that every postoffice in 
Vermont has been filled with Democrats? It is so. 

Well, Cleveland is losing ground every day, and 
I prophesy that he will be defeated. The people 
of these United States, all the business portion, 
have enough of Democratic rule. What a failure 
those rebel brigadiers have made of Cleveland's 
administration! 

Our markets are well supplied with choice fruits 
and vegetables. Your br6ther, 

Albert G. Hildreth. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 329 

Lowell, Mass., Nov. 25, 1888. 

Brother Frank: It is some time since I have 
heard from you. We hope you and Liveria are in 
comfortable health. 

Well, Frank, the Republicans have won a glori- 
ous victory. The Democrats die hard. They are 
now trying to save the lower House of Congress, 
by fraud or otherwise. But I think they will not 
be able to count out enough members to give them 
a majority. The "solid south" is broken. White 
Republicans and negroes must be allowed to vote 
or representation in the South must be reduced. 

I send you papers with two speeches by Ben. 
Butler. You see he is a Republican again. Many 
of our citizens, who had always been Democrats, 
this year voted the straight Republican ticket. 
They had got enough of Cleveland's free trade 
Democracy. 

I notice that many Republican soldiers have 
been elected to Congress. This looks as though 
soldiers are yet to have their rights given them, 
and there will not be so many pension vetoes in 
the future. Twenty-five years have passed since 
the war, and how many are troubled with disease 
or wounds caused by patriotic efforts to save this 
Union. I have not seen a well day since I left the 
service. Of course you see the same with the sol- 
diers in Charles City, including Col. V. G. Barney 
of my old Regiment, the Ninth Vermont. I think 
there was not a State in the Union whose soldiers 
were shot down or wounded as were the Iowa boys. 
And then think how they suffered in Anderson - 
ville, Libby and other prisons! It was terrible. 
The Democratic party was responsible for all this. 

Here in Lowell, the veteran soldiers re-organ- 
ized under the name of the "Boys in Blue." Some 
of our patriotic citizens furnished us with uni- 
forms, fed us and paid all our expenses. During 
the campaign we went to Lawrence, Manchester, 
Tyngsborough, and other places. The ladies gave 
us a silk flag that cost ninety dollars, lettered 

42 



330 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

"Boys in Blue," of Lowell. To wind up, we had 
a State parade here in Lowell. They came from 
all parts of the State and some parts of New 
Hampshire. Every one was hoarse with cheering 
and shouting'. Hundreds of houses were marked 
"239," Harrison's electoral vote, also thousands of 
flags and banners were marked with these figures. 

Every business man now feels encouraged. We 
shall have a new Government building here to 
cost $200,000.00; also a memorial building, a new 
armory building, and a new city hall, besides a 
large number of new dwelling houses. 

We want to know how Liveria is. Abbie speaks 
of her almost every day, and sends a sister's love 
to her. 

Accept thanks for papers received. Are you 
aware that I am almost sixty years old? How 
time passes! Write often. 

From your brother, 

Albert G. Hildreth. 



Boston, Mass., October 4, 1883. 

My Dear Friend and Cousin: Your kind and 
sympathetic letter of recent date was duly re- 
ceived. I thank you for the kind expressions ten- 
dered to the memory of my father. He was truly, 
as you say, a man of many excellent qualities. 
They were of course well known to me, as I was 
so closely connected with his every thought and 
act, more especially during the last fifteen years. 
That you and others hold his character in high 
esteem is good evidence that we have not over- 
estimated his worth. He was unassuming and 
careful of the rights of others. He did not boast 
of his virtues, and yet practised all the virtues 
according as he understood them. He was to me 
the best of fathers and a true friend. 

Last Monday your cousin, Miss Sarah Tyler, 
dined with us, and she asked to be remembered to 
you. She wishes you would write her in reference 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 331 

to your brother Daniel and your sister, Mary. 
She says her sister is very near death's door, hav- 
ing been sick the last two or three years, and does 
not weigh more than sixty-five pounds. Miss 
Sarah is also much worn with constant attendance 
upon her sister. I have just received a letter from 
Persis M. Waterhouse, of Charles City, in which 
she states that you are in Chicago; so this letter 
will await your return. I do wish you could con- 
tinue your trip to Boston. I can assure you of a 
warm welcome. The memory of your and your 
wife's kindness towards me is ever fresh in my 
mind. Do, both of you, come so soon as you can, 
and stay a long time. My wife and I will be most 
happy to receive you. We trust you are well and 
will continue to enjoy good health. 

Yours very respectfully, 

Luke J. Page. 
No. 211 Pleasant Street, Boston, Mass. 
To Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 
Charles City, Iowa. 



Madison, Wisconsin, July 5, 1880. 

My Dear Cousin: I have been very negligent in 
not answering your letter ere this time. School 
work has kept me so busy that I have found but 
little time for anything else. I have recently been 
seeking a little recreation. I first visited in Mil- 
waukee, and then went to Hillsdale, Michigan, to 
attend Commencement at the College there, and 
the Alumni reunion. Besides the reunion and an- 
niversaries of the different Literary Societies, I 
had a very pleasant time with my old friends and 
class-mates. Nearly two hundred of the old grad- 
uates were present and I was indeed very proud to 
be numbered as one of them. 

I came here, to Madison, for a visit, and find 
here many old acquaintances. This week I shall 
attend the State Teachers 1 Association and then 
return to the home of my mother at Big Spring, 



332 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

Wis. I remember my visit at your house with 
much pleasure. My brother Amos and family are 
as well as usual. Mother's health is not very 
good. I shall hope to hear from you soon after 
my arrival at home. I should like very much to 
have another happy visit with you and your good 
wife, but do not know when that can be. How- 
ever, I do not always expect to teach. With much 
love, Your cousin, 

Roxie C. Tyler. 



Hillsdale, Michigan, July 10, 1882. 

Dear Cousins: I suppose you may have a little 
curiosity to know where I am and what is my situa- 
tion. Well, I was married in this place on the 5th 
of last October to Rev. W. E. Dennett. I have a 
very pleasant home and my married life thus far 
has indeed been a happy one. My husband is an 
earnest an devoted Christian, a line scholar, an 
able man and a loving husband. He is taking a 
course in theology at the college here. He is now 
pastor of a Free Will Baptist Church at Batavia, 
thirty miles west of Hillsdale. His church has 
prospered finely since he had charge of it — the 
membership has more than doubled. 1 am hoping 
to have my mother with us some this year. I wish 
very much that you and cousin Liveria could visit 
us here, we should enjoy it so much. I find some 
time for study and reading. I began the study of 
Hebrew this spring, and have progressed so far 
that I am enabled to read the Bible in the original 
language. I must confess that I had rather study 
Hebrew than to wash dishes — but the dishes are 
always washed. My husband is absent, or he 
would certainly send his kind regards. Write so 
soon as you can find it convenient to do so. With 
much love to you both. 

Your cousin, 

Roxie Tyler Dennett. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 333 

Pascoag, Rhode Island, June 2,1, 1890. 

Dear Cousin Hildreth: It is with a heavy heart 
that I write to say that my dear companion, Roxie, 
left me last night for the other shore. She was a 
loving wife and a devoted Christian mother. She 
was one of the choice women of earth. The ways 
of a kind Providence are often mysterious, but 
always right. God only knows what desolation 
fills my life. I have three children — Tyler D., 
seven years old, and two little girls. I ever wish 
to be remembered at the mercy seat, particularly 
now in this greatest affliction of my life. I am, 
dear cousin, Yours truly, 

W. E. Dennett, 
Pastor F. B. Church. 



Pascoag, R. I., Sept. 22, 1890. 

Dear Cousin: Your very kind and sympathetic 
letter was duly received, after the death of my 
dear Roxie, and is by no means forgotten. Soon 
after her death I found that a change of surround- 
ings was imperatively demanded. I visited my 
father in Lowell, Mass., and some relatives in 
Portland, Maine. I returned home with the chil- 
dren, Tyler and Mildred, where I spent the Sab- 
bath, and then, with them, started for Wisconsin. 
There my relatives and grandma Tyler were glad 
to see their dear Roxie's children, since they could 
no more see her upon the shores of time. I re- 
ceived a very warm welcome also, but we were all 
sad together. It was there that 1 first met Roxie, 
and there we engaged to be married. Ever after- 
wards we were to each other the dearest of earth. 
I should have been glad to visit you, but could not. 

On Monday morning, August 10th. sister Aman- 
da and I, with the children, boarded cars for Chi- 
cogo, where we met my brother, and we all came 
direct to Boston, on G. A. R. excursion tickets. 
Thence Amanda and I and the children came to 
my home here in Rhode Island. But my little 



334 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

baby Roxie only lived two days. She was a frail 
little creature. I left mother Tyler in comfortable 
health for one of her age. 

Herewith I send you a sketch of my dear Roxie's 
life, which was published in the Morning Star of 
Boston. You say: "She was a lady of more than 
ordinary ability." This was true. She was a 
faithful Christian wife; a loyal, loving mother; 
and a valued member of the church and society. 
She used to laugh at the idea of being the wife of 
a minister' but she was in very many respects a 
model pastor's wife. 

I have now two children, Tyler W., who was 
seven years old last June, and Mildred, two years 
old last month. They are bright, promising chil- 
dren. We did not suspect Roxie's kidney trouble 
until about a month before her death. She was 
passionately devoted to her children, and she had 
a right to be proud of them. She often told me of 
her happy visit at your house. 

You say: ' ' Tempus fugit." This has been true 
for me, until the last three months. Now time is 
long enough. It would be a pleasure to fold my 
arms and go to the loved ones on the other shore, 
were it not for my precious children here. God's 
ways are mysterious. Trusting that His blessing 
may be upon you and yours, and that your last 
days may be the best, I am as ever truly 

Your cousin, 

W. E. Dennett. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 
Charles City, Iowa. 



BIOGRAPHICAL ABSTRACT. 

Roxie Cutting Tyler was born in Compton, 
Sherbrook Co., P. Q., April 14, 1848. She was the 
daughter of Rev. Amos and Emogene C. Tyler. 
When she was seven years old her parents re 1 
moved to Wisconsin. She gave early indication 
of great precocity, not having that fondness for 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 335 

play so common to childhood. At the age of four 
years she learned to knit, and henceforth she knit 
her own stockings. Her father taught her to read 
at this early age, and ever after her books were 
her constant companions. An ardent thirst for 
knowledge characterized all of her subsequent life. 

At the age of twelve years she had completed 
the work of the common schools, and was fitted 
educationally to teach, but was too young. As 
soon as she had attained sufficient age she began 
to teach in the common schools. 

She prepared for college in the schools of Rock- 
ford. 111., and Kilbourn City. Wis. By unusual 
industry she was enabled to enter the Sophomore 
class of Hillsdale College in the fall of 1869. Af- 
ter a year of college work she taught in the Bara- 
boo High School two years. She then returned to 
Hillsdale and completed her course, graduating in 
class of 74. A debt of $300 was soon liquidated. 
She had now earned and spent for her education 
$1500. It was doubtless this great expenditure of 
energy, and her subsequent work in the school 
room that laid the foundation for disease, and 
made her an easy prey so early in life, Previous 
to entering college she had given her heart to God 
and was baptized in the Wisconsin River. Ever 
after she was a faithful follower of her heavenly 
Master; ready to speak or pray as duty indicated. 
She now entered the public schools as a teacher, 
for her Mfe work, as she supposed. She taught in 
the schools of New Lisbon, Reedsburg, Spencer 
and Beaver Dam, Wis., and in Wilton Institute, 
Iowa. The death of her father, in the Centennial 
year, made a deep impression on her mind, and 
for years she mourned her loss. 

In Oct., 1881, she was married to W. E. Dennett, 
a graduate of the Wisconsin University, at Madi- 
son, and at that time a student in the Theological 
Department of Hillsdale College, Michigan. She 
entered the classes with her subsequent husband, 
and was an enthusiastic student in Greek and He- 



336 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

brew. In the two pastorates which her husband 
has since held, she proved herself a very efficient 
worker. She was especially interested in the work 
of missions. While she was in the Hillsdale Q. M. 
she was Quarterly Meeting Secretary of the Wo- 
man's Missionary Society. By her persistent and 
energetic efforts a new impetus was given the 
work throughout the Q. M. In the church she 
usually had entire charge of the Mission and S. S. 
concerts, assigning the parts and conducting the 
rehearsals. She was faithful in her family duties 
and in the absence of her husband from home she 
rendered thanks at the table and read and prayed 
with her children. She was of a cheerful dispo- 
sition and her merry laugh will long be remem- 
bered by those who knew and loved her. For 
several years her health has not been good, but her 
symptoms were not sufficiently alarming to arouse 
suspicion that her kidneys were diseased. When, 
about a month previous to her death, treatment 
was commenced, the disease appeared to yield 
readily. On Monday p. m. preceding her death 
she gave birth to a daughter. She so far regained 
her strength that on Thursday morning she and 
her husband talked of her situation and both were 
greatly encouraged. But her weakened nervous 
condition allowed the disease to go to her brain 
and thus the work was quickly done. With but 
slight exception she was delirious all of the last 
twenty-four hours and thus the privilege of a lov- 
ing farewell to husband and children was denied. 
She sweetly fell asleep in Jesus at her home in 
Pascoag, R. I., just as the sun was sinking behind 
the western horizon, on Friday, June 20, 1890. 
Thus does the Lord call his workers from labor to 
their reward. She leaves three children to be 
cared for and loved. She possessed a great am- 
bition for them, and while she was perfectly re- 
signed to the will of the Lord, she was still very 
desirous of living to help educate them. Her de- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 337 

voted husband feels keenly his responsibilities, his 
loneliness and his loss. 

She was a loyal, loving wife, a faithful Christian 
mother, and a valued worker in the cause of Christ. 
Such lives are not lived in vain. Our loss is her 
eternal gain. The funeral was held at the resi- 
dence in Pascoag, Monday, June 23d, her hus- 
band's birthday. Rev. J. W. Parsons of Olney- 
ville, R. I. , a college mate of the deceased, offici- 
ated, assisted by Revs. A. Lovejoy, E. G. East- 
man and W. P. Stoddard. The body was laid in 
Pascoag Cemetery, to await the Resurrection Morn. 
Lovingly inscribed by 

W. E. Dennett. 



Chicago, May 20, 1884. 

Dear Uncle Hildreth: Your letter arrived in due 
time and was read with pleasure. I have finished 
painting the picture and have ordered the frame 
where I usually buy for myself. I took the pic- 
ture down to-day and the man said he would have 
it boxed and sent to-morrow. It was to cost $8.00 
including boxing, which is very reasonable for the 
style of frame that I ordered. It is solid gilt. 
The imitation gilt would come to $6. 00, and I think 
the solid gilt far preferable, when the prices are 
considered. I get a good discount on frames 
through the influence of my painting teacher. I 
hope you will be pleased with the picture, and if 
you are I am. Please accept it as a slight return for 
the many favors you have done me. The picture 
represents Bemus' Heights and the Stillwater, 
near Saratoga. 

The weather to-day has been perfectly lovely, 
and it seems now as though summer has arrived. 
The Parks are looking finely and driving out is a 
pleasure again. You and auntie must make your 
arrangements for a visit here this fall. We shall 
all be very glad to have you come. How is Carrie 
W ? Please give her my love, and a kiss, (I 

43 



338 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

know you are so fond of giving them!) to the new- 
comer. Thanks for the paper yon sent. 

All wish to be remembered with love to yonrself 
and auntie. I remain gratefully your niece, 

Carrie R. Stone. 



Chicago, December 24, 1884. 

Dear Uncle Hildreth: I have just received a let- 
ter from you containing a Christmas present, and 
it is a great surprise and pleasure. Yesterday I 
mailed you and auntie a few little things as Christ- 
mas remembrances, but they seem very diminutive 
compared with your generous present. It was 
very kind indeed of you to remember me and I 
thank you more than I can tell in a letter. I shall 
spend it for something that I can always keep. 
Cannot you suggest something? I shall wait until 
I hear from you before deciding what to get. I 
have thought of some books; if so, what books 
would you recommend? You are so much at home 
in that line, you will know what would be always 
valuable. 

We all join in sending Christmas greetings to 
you and auntie. Father says he expects you to 
make merry with a tune on the Jews-harp! With 
much love to you both, I am yours gratefully, 

Carrie R. Stone. 

Rockford, III., Dec. 14, 1890. 

My Dear Mr. Hildreth: The Charles City Intelli 
gencer of the 9th inst. came duly to hand, contain- 
ing the sad and unexpected news of the death of 
your dearly beloved wife. We extend to you our 
heartfelt sympathy and condolence. While the 
loss falls so heavily upon you, you are not alone to 
mourn her great loss. Few ladies had more true 
or devoted friends, or was more deserving of them, 
for she had many pure, noble, lovely traits of 
character. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 339 

It seems but yesterday that I visited you and 
Liveria in your pleasant and happy home, and en- 
joyed my visit so much. Little did I think that 
we should be called upon so soon to sympathize 
with you in this your great and irreparable loss. 
How uncertain is life, and how little we know how 
soon we may be called upon to mourn the death of 
our loved ones! 

We are all in usual health. Alice's little boy is 
growing nicely. He is a bright, nice child, and a 
great comfort to us. Mrs. Brown joins me in 
sending much sympathy and the kindest regards. 
When you come East do not fail to make us a good 
long visit, as we should enjoy a visit from you so 
much. Truly your cousin, 

Horace Brown. 



Corinth, Vt., Dec. 16, 1890. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

My Dear Brother: The sad news of sister Li- 
veria's death came to us last evening, through the 
Intelligencer. I deeply sympathize with you in 
your bereavement. I was fearful of the result of 
dear Liveria's sickness, and yet the news was sud- 
den. I saw Myra Wason last week, and she spoke 
of Liveria going to the breakfast table one morn- 
ing, since you wrote me, and I thought she would 
linger along for some time; but not so. 

My dear brother; you are deeply afflicted. Why 
are these things so? You have seen many sad 
hours, not only now but in days gone by. Why 
some in this world are born to trouble, and others 
enjoy life uninterruptedly, is one of the mysteries. 
But while you mourn the death of her who was 
your companion so many years, try to be recon- 
ciled. "The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh 
away." How thankful you should be that you en- 
joyed sister Liveria's companionship so long. 
These afflictions are to work out a "far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Try to 



340 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

feel reconciled to these sore dispensations of Prov- 
idence. I know how hard they are to bear. So 
soon as you can, I hope you will write me a long 
letter, and give me more particulars. 

Your affectionate sister, 

Harriet N. Porter. 



Boston, Mass., Dec. 17, 1890. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

My Dear Cousin: I have just been informed by 
Mr. Fred Stone, of Chicago, that cousin Liveria 
has left us to return no more. It is very sad to 
part with our dear friends, and it must be excep- 
tionally hard for you who have been her compan- 
ion so long. I was not unprepared to receive the 
sad news, for I have realized for years that her 
life on earth was destined to be given up at any 
time, when a sudden shock, or anything out of the 
usual course, might happen. I shall never forget 
her kindness to me, years ago, during the trying 
times experienced when you first settled in Charles 
City. Cousin Liveria was a noble woman, and 
tried faithfully to discharge all the duties devolv- 
ing upon her. You deserve and will receive the 
respect due for your unvarying kindness and at- 
tention to your wife during the long years that 
she was an invalid. 

My wife and daughter, Hattie and Evalyn, join 
me in tender sympathy for you in your great loss 
and sad bereavement. Sincerely yours, 

Luke J. Page. 



Spencer, Clay Co., Iowa, Jan. 18, 1891. 

My Dear Cousin: I fear you are thinking that 
we have not sympathized with you in your recent 
great bereavement, in letting so much time pass 
without writing to you. Shortly after receiving 
the sad news, I was called to Rockford, 111., to see 
one of my brothers laid away in his last resting 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 341 

place, and have only returned, this morning. How 
true it is that "many are in sorrow!" 

I had a sincere affection for Mrs. Hildreth, and 
can feel what her death must be to you. I visited 
her sister, Mrs. Stone, in Chicago, and from her 
learned the particulars of cousin Liveria's last 
sickness. We have wished so many times that 
you would visit us, that we might, perhaps, make 
the days less lonely for you. Why can't you come 
while the weather is so mild? 

I left Mr. Stone's people very well, but it made 
my heart ache to find Mrs. Stone's hands and 
wrists so crippled by the falls she had. She went 
out to Edgewater with me to see her daughter 
Carrie, and her sweet little baby, in their lovely 
new home. 

George, my husband, sends kindest regards to 
you, and joins with me in wishing that you may 
soon visit us. Sincerely, your cousin, 

Sella E. Thayer. 



Iowa State S<zsl1. 



342 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 



PART THIRD. 



MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE. 



From the Lowell (Mass.) Literary Souvenir. 
LETTER FROM HON. HENRY A. WISE. 

We publish the following letter from Mr. Wise 
that it may correct an error which we endorsed in 
an article alluded to in his communication. We 
had so often seen it reiterated that he did exclaim 
"shoot lower," in the unfortunate duel between 
Messrs. Cilley and Graves, that we admitted it to 
be true. Happy at all times to correct our own 
errors of admission or assertion, we publish Mr. 
Wise's letter that it may correct for others, as it 
has for us, the party falsehood which we endorsed. 
— Editor Souvenir. 

Accomack County, Va., Nov. 8, 1839. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., Sir:— 

My attention has lately been called, by a friend, 
to an article in- the "Literary Souvenir," Lowell, 
Mass,, edited by yourself, headed with my name, 
dated July 6th, 1839. 

It is a rule of my life never to notice the good or 
the evil spoken of that name in the public prints, 
but yours is not a political or partisan press, and 
therefore would seem to be just and impartial in 
its judgment and criticisms of public men; and the 
article referred to is written with so much more 
fairness and justice to my character than is usual- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 343 

ly shown by professed friends, even, to me, that I 
cannot forbear expressing to you my grateful 
sense of its spirit by correcting one of its errors. 
This article, even friendly and just, as it is, takes 
it for granted that, in the unfortunate duel of 
Messrs. Graves and Oilley, it was true that I did 
say to the former, my principal, during the fight, 
"shoot lower." This was a party falsehood, and 
no one has yet been found to vouch for it. No one. 
not even the most partial, was found to testify 
to its truth before the duelling committee. You 
may rest assured that it would have been proved 
if any witness could have been produced. On the 
contrary, I expressly proved, what I was not 
bound to prove, its negative. 

See House Document No. 825 — Report of the 
duelling committee, made April 21, 1838, page 99, 
examination of Mr. Crittenden. Question, by Mr. 
Wise: Did you hear me use to Mr. Graves any 
such expression as "Graves, shoot lower?" An- 
swer: I heard no such expression from you. 
Again, page 130. Question, by Mr. Wise to Mr. 
Graves: Did I at any time say to you. Graves, 
shoot lower, or use any such expression during 
the meeting at or before either exchange of shots, 
or at any time whatever? Answer: I do not rec- 
ollect that Mr. Wise said a word to me upon the 
subject of shooting lower or higher. I think the 
only remark he made to me upon the ground, on 
the subject of my shooting, was after my second 
shot, and then he only said I fired too quick. 

Now this is very unimportant only as an exam- 
ple of how falsehood will fly and be believed. In 
this case, I know not how it originated. And let 
me add that, if it had been true, the direction 
would have been given, not as a phrensied word, 
but, for a better reason on such an occasion, to 
protect my own friend in his defence primarily, 
and not in malice to the adversary. 

The House of Representatives never did Mr. 
Graves and myself the common justice to print the 



344 FAMILY LETTERS TO 

journal of that committee, the evidence in which 
would refute all the calumnies which have been 
circulated to the injury of our characters as men 
of humanity and honor. The judgment of the 
world is so erroneous in most matters that I 
scarcely think it worth my time and attention to 
attempt its correction; and I do not now write this 
with a view of publication. If you choose to cor- 
rect the error you have made, please refer to the 
journal of the committee quoted. Read all that 
evidence as a curiosity. You may get a copy from 
your Representative. I have but one, or I would 
furnish it myself — and you may possibly have even 
a better opinion still of 

Your humble servant, 

Henry A. Wise. 



From the American Protector. 

Ashland, Kentucky, Sept. 17, 1846. 

Dear Sir: I received your kind letter of the 7th 
inst. and thank you for the friendly sentiments 
toward me which it conveys. I do not write this 
letter either to refute the erroneous imputations of 
the Democrats, or to explain my opinions on the 
Protective Policy, for publication. If there be 
any one who maintains that Mr. Polk is as good a 
friend to Protection as I am, I can only say that I 
pity his ignorance, or despise his knavery. My 
whole public life has been dedicated to the sup- 
port and Mr. Polk's to the subversion of the cause 
of Protection. In 1844 I wrote a letter, which was 
published in Pennsylvania, avowing explicitly the 
opinion that the Tariff of 1842 ought not to be dis- 
turbed or touched. In that same year Mr. Polk 
wrote the Kane letter, and declined writing any 
other. He was elected to the Presidency, and the 
Tariff of 1842 has been repealed. If I had been 
elected it would not have been repealed. 

A main object of the compromise of 1833 was to 
save the system of Protection from impending de- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 345 

struction, with which it was threatened by Gen. 
Jackson and the Democratic party. In 1842, 
when I made the speech to which you refer, my 
object was to carry out the principles of the Com- 
promise Act, including a home valuation, discrim- 
ination, a long list of free articles for the benefit 
of manufacturers, and such a rate of duty above 
twenty per cent, as would raise a sufficient revenue 
for an economical administration of the Govern- 
ment, exclusive of the proceeds of the sales of the 
public lands, which it was my wish should be dis- 
tributed among the States. 

When the opponents of the Protective Policy 
refused to agree to a home valuation; when, in 
other words, they refused to abide by the princi- 
ples of the Compromise Act, I felt also absolved 
from all obligation to it, and, thereafter, that is 
from the spring of 1842, have contended for an 
untrammeled system of Protection. In 1844 the 
Whigs of the South and West every where had 
adopted the principle of protecting our own indus- 
try, and, if the North had united with them, that 
policy would have been placed upon a firm and un- 
shakable foundation. But the North did not unite 
with them. The largest portion of it went for Mr. 
Polk and Free Trade — some, perhaps, from mis- 
conception of his opinions, others knowingly and 
intentionally. I think, therefore, that it is not 
just to attribute to what is called the "slave pow- 
er' ' the overthrow of the Protective Policy. It 
would be more accurate to ascribe it to the anti- 
slave power and the North. 

Whatever has been its cause, the overthrow ex- 
ists, and we must ascertain by, I fear, disastrous 
experience its effects. Should we, who are for 
Protection, be mistaken, why, I suppose there will 
be general acquiescence in what has been done. 
If, on the contrary, the Tariff of 1846 should be 
fraught with the mischievous consequences which 
I believe will spring from it, the People have in 

44 



346 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

their own hands ample power of correction, if 
they choose to use it. 

I congratulate you on the successful issue of the 
election in your State. I only regret that it was 
not still more decisive. 

I am your friend and obedient servant, 

H. Clay. 
Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth, 

Bradford, Vt. 



MlDDLEBURY, Vt., Nov. 11, 1846. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., 

My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 24th ult. was 
duly received. As your paper has been sent me 
under an expectation that it would be paid for I 
cannot refrain from paying you, and therefore 
send you the money herewith. I do not know how 
long I have received the paper, but I think a little 
longer than this money will pay for. I may be in 
Bradford in the course of a few months and will 
pay the balance if any is due. I could not return 
the paper because it would imply that I did not 
wish to see it, or was not willing to pay for it, 
neither of which was or is true. I shall have to 
discontinue the most of my papers after this year. 
The reason of this is that I have no other income 
than that which I derive from the salary of Gov- 
ernor and fifty dollars as Commissioner of the 
Deaf, Dumb and Blind. 

Vermont ought to give her Governor enough to 
furnish him a respectable support and enable him 
to appear as .a Governor should appear, and be 
liberal. But she does not, and I have carefully 
foreborne from asking or even suggesting an in- 
crease of the salary. Vermont has never before 
had a Governor who had not ample means of his 
own, independent of his salary, and I hope she 
never will again. Having said this much, perhaps 
I ought, in justice to myself, to explain the cause 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 347 

of my destitution, which I will do in a very few 
words. 

Being a zealous war Democrat when the war of 
1812 was declared, I commenced the publication of 
a newspaper in this place, and connected with it 
the book- selling business. It was a bad time to 
print a newspaper. I was too free in the distribu- 
tion of it; did not collect sharply enough; and got, 
during the war, a large stock of goods on hand, 
which, with other property purchased, sank about 
one-half in value at the close of the war, so that 
soon after I failed for a large amount. Deter- 
mined, however, to pay all my debts to the last 
cent, I struggled on, but upon an income not more 
than enough to give me a support. Thus I went 
on until I was elected to Congress in 1831, by 
which time my debts, with the interest, had more 
than doubled, and I found myself 18000.00 worse 
off than nothing. During my continuance in Con- 
gress I got off the most of this load, but I found 
myself, at the time I was elected Governor, with- 
out much property save a village house and lot 
where I live. 

You will, I hope, excuse this reference to my 
private affairs. It is a very brief outline. With the 
filling it up I shall never trouble any one. 

I remain, dear sir, very truly yours, 

William Slade, 

Governor. 



Dear Sir: The Faculty of the University of 
Vermont acknowledge the reception of Five Vol- 
umes of the "Green Mountain Gem," as a Present 
to the Library of the University, from A. B. F. 
Hildreth, Esq. , and take this means of expressing, 
in the name of the University, their thanks to the 
donor. 

University of Vermont, 

Burlington, Sept. 5, 1848. 

John Wheeler, President. 

Calvin Pease, Librarian. 



348 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Bradford, Vt., February 24, 1849. 

Major I. D. Graham, Washington, D. C. : 

My Dear Sir: I beg you to excuse me for the 
liberty I take to address you. I am getting beyond 
the period when a man is to be supposed to take a 
very decided interference in the matters of Gov- 
ernment, or its disposal of its offices, and the ap- 
pointments to them; still, once having been some- 
what active in these matters, I cannot but still feel 
a little interest therein. If the bearer, Mr. A. B. 
F. Hildreth, who is connected with the press in 
these parts, shall call on you, I beg to ask your 
favorable attention to him. If you can by any 
consistent means aid him you will much oblige 
him and me, and in so doing you may rest assured 
that you will confer a favor on a worthy, industri- 
ous, diligent, trustworthy man. I hope it may be 
your pleasure and consistent with your conven- 
ience to assist him. and therein you will oblige 
him and also your old friend, 

John McDuffee, 

Civil Engineer. 



Detroit, Michigan, March 28, 1849. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., Bradford, Vt., 

My Dear Sir: I received your excellent letter 
last evening. It is true, as you say, our corres- 
pondence has been interrupted, but the bond 
which has hitherto bound us is not broken. I 
have always had my eye upon you and have always 
remembered you with pleasure. I am under obli- 
gations to you for many numbers of your valuable 
paper, for which you have my thanks as well as 
those of my wife. She says she wants to see Mr. 
Hildreth. She considers him the ladies' champion 
and friend. 

I have lately contributed some poor pieces to 
your paper, which I am sure you have overrated. 
They were written off-hand, mostly in school, and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 349 

are far from being what I could wish; but if any 
thing I may hereafter write should be deemed of 
sufficient merit to appear in print, I shall of course 
feel gratified to see it. I have written some for 
western papers on various subjects, but generally 
the author's name does not appear. Whatever, 
from my pen, may appear in your sheet, it shall 
be over my signature, as I am unwilling to be en- 
tirely forgotten in that dear Green Mountain land 
which gave me birth. I rejoice to hear of your 
prosperity, and doubly value your letter, as it 
gives me an insight into your domestic as well as 
financial affairs. Confidence begets confidence, 
and I will now give you a little of my history. 
For the last thirteen years I have been constantly 
employed in this city as teacher of a select school, 
with pay averaging about 11,500.00 per year. 
Some years more. From this I have saved what I 
consider worth ten thousand dollars. I had one 
thousand dollars when I came here. I am build- 
ing several new houses this year — have one on 
Main street which rents for $250.00 per year. I 
have five hundred acres of land, as fine as any on 
your Connecticut river, and five city lots, one of 
which sold, before it came into my hands, for 
$2,800.00. I have made as much by speculation on 
city lots and city securities as in my school. I 
have some money out at ten per cent, interest, 
(legal rate here,) secured by bond and mortgage 
on valuable real estate, farms, mills and tene- 
ments; am entirely out of debt. My health is ex- 
cellent; weigh 166 lbs. of Bacon! We have two 
little ones, a son and daughter, i4 to lisp," &c, and, 
on the whole, am contented. 

I wish you had come West with me when I came 
to Detroit. You now would be the owner of the 
only Whig press in the city. I am glad that you 
went to Washington and witnessed President Tay- 
lor's inauguration. You must have received new 
views of the capacities of the South and West. 

Do write me often. If I can be of any benefit to 



350 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

you in a pecuniary point of view I shall do it with 
a hearty good will. You will pardon me for say- 
ing that for the last year I have been honored with 
a seat in the Common Council of this city. I was 
elected Alderman one year since. Detroit City is 
Whig. If you ever come West I shall expect a 
visit, of course, and I will promise you that next 
time I visit Vermont I will make my compliments 
to Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth. Wife insists upon it, 
and the women must have their way. She sends 
her love to you both. Our winter is gone. Boats 
are running between here and Buffalo. Flowers 
are in blossom in our front yard. Should you 
print my stories, I wish you would send a copy to 
my father in Chelsea, and perhaps some other 
friends of mine. 

The above has been written in haste and amidst 
several interruptions. 

Believe me yours truly, 

Washington A. Bacon. 



Caledonia Lodge No. 6, I. O. of O. F. ) 
St. Johnsbury, Vt., April 8, 1851. j 

Dear Sir and Brother: At a regular meeting of 
this Lodge, holden last evening, I was directed to 
invite you to deliver a public lecture in our Lodge 
Room one week from next Monday evening. The 
brothers are to appear without regalia. Please 
inform us by return of mail if you can be with us 
at the above-mentioned time. We intend to have 
as many invited friends as can conveniently be ac- 
commodated in our hall which is not very spa- 
cious. Fraternally yours, 

F. G. Parks, 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., Secretary. 

Bradford, Vt. 

Note. — The above invitation was duly accepted. See page 90. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 351 

Boston, Mass., No. 2 School St., Sept. 18, 1855. 

Dear Sir: I thank you for several numbers of 
your excellent paper, which have been duly re- 
ceived. I thank you also for your very kind and 
obliging notices of my late brother-in-law. Hon. 
Abbott Lawrence, and of my son, Timothy Bige- 
low, in the last two papers which have come to 
hand. The former was placed in the hands of the 
widow of Mr. Lawrence, by whom and her chil- 
dren your marked attention is duly appreciated. 

I like the "Holyoke Mirror" on its independent 
merits and wish it all possible success. As a small 
mark of my estimate of its value I enclose a year's 
subscription and beg you to forward it to the ad- 
dress of, and so oblige, 

Yours very truly and respectfully, 

Andrew Bigelow, D. D. 

To A. B. F. Hildreth, 

Editor Holyoke Mirror. 



Strafford, Vt., Nov. 9, 1855. 

A. B. F. Hildreth Esq., Holyoke, Mass. 

My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 5th inst. , in- 
forming me of your probable removal Westward, 
I find to-day upon reaching home, after a brief ab- 
sence, and hasten at once to acknowledge it. I 
regret that so many of our best young men annual- 
ly leave their New England homes, but do ' not 
doubt at the same time that wider and richer fields 
lie open in the direction that you propose to take. 
I have no hesitation in saying that, with your 
experience, ability and irreproachable moral char- 
acter, you will at least deserve success, establish 
a press wherever you may. You are at liberty to 
show this wherever you think my humble name 
will at any time be of the slightest service. I feel 
quite sure that any confidence placed in you will 
be fully sustained. 

I am very sincerely your friend, 

Justin S. Morrill, M. C. 



352 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Holyoke, Mass., Nov. 24, 1855. 

I take much pleasure in saying a good word for 
A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq. I have known him for 
the past three years; during that time he has suc- 
cessfully edited and published a newspaper in this 
place. A pure and moral tone pervaded the same, 
and its columns show that it was edited with abil- 
ity. Mr. Hildreth is also a practical printer, of 
good business habits, tact and perseverance; but 
more than this, he is a man of integrity, and will 
not abuse the confidence of a friend or avenge 
himself upon a foe. We regret his loss. The 
community that secures his services as editor or 
otherwise is fortunate. 

Lester Newell. 
Postmaster at Holyoke, Mass. 



Edgerton Depot, Fulton, Wis., June 18, '55. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., 

Dear Sir: The time has gone by when I should 
have remitted the amount due you for your valu- 
able Mirror for another year. But it is never too 
late to do a good deed, and you will please find 
the money herewith enclosed. Please forward the 
paper as usual. 

I saw in the Mirror of the 9th inst. , a paragraph 
stating that J. W. D. Parker was not among the 
living. This is a mistake. I saw him in Janes- 
ville a few days ago, alive and well. 

And now, my dear Hildreth, allow me to give 
you a brief statement of what I have done since I 
last saw you. I came here a year ago last Febru- 
ary and purchased eighty acres of land. Return- 
ing for my family we all arrived here safely on 
the first of May following. I then purchased one 
hundred and twenty-five acres more. The rail- 
road depot was built upon my land, and I had 
twenty-five acres laid out in building lots. As 
strange as it may appear to you, I must inform 
you that we already have three as fine stores as 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 353 

can be found in your section; two good hotels; 
two blacksmith's shops; three wheelwright shops; 
two machine shops; two warehouses; two groce- 
ries; and forty dwelling houses. 

Our population now numbers about three hun- 
dred and fifty. We are to build a church this fall; 
there will be about thirty new dwelling houses 
built during this season; and, what to me is better, 
nearly all upon my land. 

I at first sold my lots, four rods by eight, for 
from $25 to $50 per lot. I have built me a very 
fine residence, situated some eighty rods from the 
depot, on a beautiful rise of ground overlooking 
the whole place. A fine creek flows through my 
land, and the most delicious fish are taken from it 
in abundance. 

My friend Hildreth, affairs have very much im- 
proved with me since I left the rugged hills of 
Vermont. I was made an excellent offer the other 
day to sell out my property here, but I like my 
situation and future prospects, and intend to abide 
here for the present. If ever you emigrate to this 
country be sure to come and spend a week with 
me. Edgerton village is in the town of Fulton, 
Rock county, twenty-six miles from Madison, the 
capital, fourteen miles from Janesville, and seven- 
ty miles west from Milwaukee. 

Your old friend, 

H. S. Swift. 



Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin, ) 
June 20, A. D. 1855. j 

Friend Hildreth: I am informed by Mr. Henry 
S. Swift, of Fulton, in this State, formerly of 
West Topsham, Vt., that in your paper of some 
recent date, but which I have not seen, is an obit- 
uary notice of your humble servant. I have seen 
in the North Star, printed at Danville, Vt. , of May 
20th, I think, such a notice, and I am also advised 
that the Vermont Patriot had a similar article. 



354 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

It is not often that a man has the advantage of 
perusing his neighbor's estimate of him when he 
has "passed the bourne whence no traveller re- 
turns," but it has happened to be mine. It is of 
very little consequence to the community whether 
an individual be dead or alive. It is perhaps of 
more importance to the one immediately concerned 
— hence the feeling I may be allowed to have on 
the subject. 

But that is neither here nor there, as regards 
mankind in general. By God's grace I am yet 
alive. I left Vermont, finally, on the 24th of 
March last, in the midst of an eastern winter, as 
to snow; passed through New Hampshire to Bos- 
ton — the snow-drifts then being very deep, and 
the prospective exhibition of sleighing, looking 
forward at least to the "dog days!" I thence 
passed over the Western Railroad to Albany, and 
so on westerly to Jordan, N. Y. There I tarried a 
few days. In the meantime we encountered one 
of the most violent and severe snow-storms that I 
experienced in all the past winter. It was worse 
even than in New England. 

On the third of April I was at Niagara Palls. 
'Tis useless for me to say anything about the 
Falls. I have seen them again and again — always 
grand, sublime and beautiful, at all times and sea- 
sons; — think then, sir, of a view of them under the 
mild beams of a full and cloudless moon, in the 
latter days of a long and sombre winter; the clear, 
brilliant snow-banks; the accumulated mountains 
of frozen spray; the tumbling ocean of foaming 
flood, spanned, gloriously spanned, by the delicate 
halo of the rare but dancingly mellow moon boiv! 
This is indeed a crown of overwhelming loveliness. 
Such scenes remain long and strongly impressed 
upon the burning tablet of tenacious memory! — 
which present, overwhelming as with awe, as they 
recede along the dark vista of time, a brilliant 
lamp of glory in the sunset of life! 

Then, sir, think of a view of this magnificent 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 355 

scene by sunrise, in the same wintry robes — the 
everlasting rush, fall, and endless roar of waters, 
"in their boiling hell below" — the frozen skirts of 
winter still around us — the opening early song of 
birds — the dark, misty haze — the unceasing ever 
continuous roar — -the solemn thunder — the deep, 
sullen mutter of the mingling flood — and, over all, 
the bow of God's early promise to man, stands in 
its variegated robes in double arches of fitful pur- 
ple glory, across and above the wildly deep and 
seething flood below; its golden bases set, on the 
bleak and inclement cliffs above! But, sir, your 
pardon for this wandering. 

To return. 1 arrived here, with all my family, 
on the sixth of April last; all in good health and 
excellent spirits. I have not as yet seen an hour 
of sickness or discontent since I arrived in these 
"diggins." My family, too, have all been well; 
and abating only the necessary fatigue of continu- 
ous travel, they are better and happier than they 
ever were in Vermont. We are very comfortably 
situated here in one of the young and beautifully 
springing cities of the wide — I had almost said 
boundless — prairie lands ! 

Oh, sir, there is a youthfulness and cheery bril- 
liancy in these western places that have the effect 
to carry one back to youth's bland hours, the 
springtide of early life! There is a richness and 
abundance of the fatness of fullness here in all the 
land that old New England will ever struggle after 
in vain. 

I have no doubt that, if this country had been 
settled when New England was, instead of that, 
the wilds of the ancient Narragansetts would have 
remained to them undisturbed till even now, save 
only the war-whoop and the panther's howl. But, 
in the providence of God it was otherwise ordered 
and we thank Him for His unerring wisdom of or- 
dination in this and in that. 'Tis well. I love my 
own native New England, the Green Mountains, 
the Granite Hills, the Charter Oak Land, the 



356 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Berkshire Hills, yea, even the timber lands of 
Maine; ah, too, and little turbulent Rhode Island 
— the six eastern emeralds in the richly jewelled 
crown of the glorious roll of States. I have, how- 
ever, probably bid them a final adieu — and be they 
ever happy, prosperous, united and free! 

Oh, yes, my dear sir, my prayer is for my* coun- 
try, one and all; one and indivisible. May the 
brilliant coronet be ever firm, firmly bound togeth- 
er, till the sun in his rising shall kiss the dew 
from its eastern frontlet, at the Atlantic's western 
border, and again repeat his evening osculation at 
his sinking to rest in the bosom of the deep Pacif- 
ic's waves. My paper is out. 

Ever most truly yours, 

J. W. D. Parker. 



My Dear Friend Hildreth: 

Sir: — Please accept my sincere thanks for the 
present you made me the other day; and, as a 
slight tribute of my gratitude, accept the follow- 
ing few lines for publication, if you think them 
worthy of a place in your highly valued magazine : 

E. R. P. 

"Green Mountain Gem." 



Written on being presented with a bound copy 
of the Sixth Volume. 



BY EMILY E. PAGE. 

Green Mountain Gem ! delightful name ; 
To every heart it lays a claim ; 
'Tis all that's bright, and fair, and pure, 
A chaste discerning mind to lure. 

Although this valued pearl is found 
Where chiming rills forever sound, 
Among the lofty mountains green, 
'Tis clothed in brilliant, glittering sheen. 

And all its snowy sheets unfold 
Some sage advice, before untold ; 
Some witty phrase or sparkling jest, 
Or moral thought in fiction dressed. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 357 

Enchanting tales of guileless love ; 
Of warm young hearts together wove ; 
The work of roguish Cupid's darts, 
Who, though he's blind, possesses arts ! 

But faintest, brightest, purest glows 
The jewel that most lustre throws — 
That blinds and dazzles every eye ; 
'Tis Heaven's own gift — sweet poesy. 

It's sweet, unfading numbers cheer 
The weary heart, that's lone and drear ; 
It makes the stricken mourner glad, 
Whose soul is gloomy, dark and sad. 

Ten thousand thanks for thee, bright Gem, 

Outshining e'en a diadem ; 

A generous heart most freely gave 

The gift that all might wish to have. 

Bradford, Vt., January, 1849. 

Note. — Miss Emily R. Page was a contributor to the Green 
Mountain Gem several years. She began her poetic writings at 
the age of fourteen years, and her first poem was upon finding 
a humming-bird's nest, in which were "some little eggs as 
small as peas." — Ed. 



Daily Herald Office, Boston, Dec. 3, 1855. 

As Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth contemplates locating 
in the far West, I wish to say that I have been ac- 
quainted with him intimately during the last 
twelve years, as an editor and publisher, and I 
most freely give testimony to his worth as a man, 
and his ability, perseverance and integrity as a 
citizen. Reuben Crook, 

Editor Daily Herald, Boston. Mass. 



Louisville. Kentucky, Dec. 17, 1857. 

My Dear Friends: I received yesterday your pa- 
per containing the notice of the loss of your best 
earthly treasure, your only child, Oh! deeply I 
feel for you, and how freely do my tears flow with 
yours. I dp not say to you: kk Dry up your tears, 
for she is better off." No. I say weep. Let your 



358 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

tears flow freely. It will save your wrung hearts 
from bursting. God has afflicted you, but it is no 
sin to weep. You can rejoice that she is an angel; 
a beautiful, bright intelligence; and also weep that 
she is not here, (your joy, hope and comfort,) and 
that she can never come to you again. Oh! I know 
how lonely, how desolate are your broken hearts, 
and that to you now earth has lost its charms, and 
life its aims. But pray God will sustain you; pray 
and God will send the holy comforter to comfort 
your hearts till you meet the precious lost one in 
the mansions of promise, where there will be no 
more parting forever, thanks to His name. It 
seems as if the Lord of Heaven has recently been 
selecting from earth the most lovey and beloved 
of its jewels to make up a band of little angels, 
brighter and purer than others, and those too, I 
fear, that had almost become idols here, so good 
that we loved them too much; so pure that God 
took them from the evil to come and left the par- 
ents in a loneliness and desolation of heart which 
only the bereaved can feel. 

The following notice, taken from the Lansing- 
burg (N. Y. ) paper, will explain to you why I can 
so fully, and from the heart, sympathize with you 
in your bereavement and mourn with you for your 
loss: 

"Died, in Jacksonville, Florida, March 29, 1857, 
George Augustus, son of James and Lucia B. Mc- 
Kinney, of Lansingburg, aged six years, three 
months and two days." 

Our only one. We too have experienced the 
bitterness of grief, the deep anguish of parting 
with our only child, and, although it is now nearly 
nine months since he died, our hearts are still 
bleeding and our grief knows no abatement. We 
miss him more and more. We buried him in Flor- 
ida and returned to our desolate home with grief 
more than tongue can tell. But the loneliness of 
that home, no longer enlivened by the presence of 
our precious boy. we could not endure. He was 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 359 

associated with every thing in and about it. We 
could not live there. We rented our house to 
those who could not feel its loneliness as we did. 
Mr. McKinney had previously sold out his busi- 
ness in Lansingburg. He came to Louisville, 
where I joined him after visiting friends in Ver- 
mont and Canada. We shall probably remain here 
for some time to come. We are boarding in a nice, 
pleasant, private family. How I wish you could 
come and make us a visit. Please, Liveria, write 
to me soon. May the God of all consolation be 
with and bless you and comfort your stricken 
hearts. Mr. McKinney joins me in sending love 
to you both. Yours very affectionately, 

Lucia B. McKinney. 
To Mr. and Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Detroit, Michigan, Dec. 10, 1857. 

Dear Friend: I received your letter of the 30th 
ult. this morning, and am pained to learn of your 
dreadful bereavement. I say dreadful, for I scarce- 
ly know of anything more to be dreaded than to 
be left childless! May the good Lord in whom 
you trust, abundantly console you and your dear 
wife in this dark hour. The manner and style of 
your letter, dealing as it does, with present hopes 
and pleasant memories, remind me of a couplet 
from the poet Montgomery, which seems to me 
appropriate, and reads thus: 

''Present pleasures will not last; 
Remembered joys are never past." 

Yes, my dear friend, our hold on earthly treas- 
ures is slight. Let us then put our whole trust in 
Him who is able and willing to do us good, and 
who, by the death of our friends, is evidently de- 
sirous of drawing us to Himself. 

My health is better now than formerly, and we 
have all been well till within a few days. Our 
little Kate whom you will remember, was taken 
down sick with typhoid fever about a week ago 



360 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

and is now very low. We are feeling anxious 
about her, as there have been many deaths from 
that disease in Detroit this fall. Still, we have 
hope. But, oh! you have no hope. Your darling" 
is gone. If she could have been spared, how hap- 
py, thrice happy, you would have been! 

I trust your good father in Vermont will live 
many years yet, and that we shall see him in the 
land of the living. I cannot bear the thought that 
all those good men should die. We need their ex- 
ample and advice and prayers. All that you said 
of him is eminently true, and is the best that could 
be said of any man. I should ask no higher praise. 

My school is full to overflowing, and is truly 
flourishing and profitable. On the whole, the 
hard times make easy times for me, for, owing no 
one, I have no debts to pay, and prices are great- 
ly reduced, so that a given amount of money goes 
farther than it did before the panic. 

Mrs. Bacon and the children both, (sick Kitty 
and well Charley,) desire to be remembered affec- 
tionately to yourself and wife, and hope that when 
you come this way you both will make us a good 
long visit. I hope you will write us all the news 
you may get from the East. 

Truly and affectionately yours, 

Washington A. Bacon. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq. 



Burlingtom, Iowa, April 27, 1858. 

Dear Sir: In the last number of your paper, re- 
ceived by me, (not now before me,) you speak of 
the current opinion in your section that I prefer 
th£ nomination of Mr. Thorrington as the Repre- 
sentative of your Congressional District, and indi- 
cating that I agreed to support him in case he 
withdrew as a candidate for the U. S. Senate. Al- 
low me to say that — 

1st, I never had a word of conversation with 
Mr. Thorrington on the subject of a nomination to 
Congress except incidentally a few days ago. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 361 

2d. I never made any such promise, as intimat- 
ed, that I would do any such thing. 

3d. Mr. Thorrington did not withdraw as a can- 
didate for the Senate, unless it be construed a 
withdrawal to abide the result of a caucus when 
fairly defeated. 

Allow me to further say that I have not and 
shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirect- 
ly, in the selection of a candidate for Congress in 
your District, for several manifest and substantial 
reasons, among which it is only necessary to spe - 
cify at this time — 

1st. Because I am a non-resident of the District. 

2d. Because my more immediate personal and 
particular friends are divided in their choice, some 
desiring one and some another, and it would be 
exceedingly impolitic and improper for me to min- 
gle in the strife between them. 

3d. Because the nominee, whoever he may be, 
will be likely to be my colleague at Washington, 
and I do not intend to place myself in antagonism 
to him before we get there. 

The truth is, that I have not ever expressed to 
any human being a preference for any one, and 
shall not do so. I have heard that I favored three 
or four different persons for this office. It is 
thought by some that my name will aid their pro- 
gress. Others think that my reported advocacy of 
their antagonists will improve their own chances, 
and thus my name is bruited about between them, 
much to my chagrin and displeasure. 

I do not wish to get into the newspapers in this 
connection. I abhor that kind of notoriety. I do 
not, therefore, write this with a view to publica- 
tion, but simply to let you and your friends in 
your place know the facts. You will therefore 
understand that this is designed for your eye alone. 

I judge by a recent number of your paper that 
you are a native of New Hampshire, like myself. 
I regret that I did not make your acquaintance 
last autumn when I was in the north part of the 

46 



362 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

State. I congratulate you upon publishing- one of 
the very best newspapers, and certainly the best 
looking newspaper, in the State. 

I am very truly your friend, 

James W. Grimes. 
To A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq., 

Editor InteMigencer, Charles City, Iowa. 



Detroit, Mich., Jan. 24, 1859. 

My Very Dear Friend: I have been waiting some 
time for leisure to write you a good long letter, 
such as you deserve and such as I should like to 
write, were I not always jaded out with this ever- 
lasting school and other undodgeable duties on top 
of it; but as such time seems loth to appear, I 
have taken up my pen now, upon dismissing 
school, and shall scribble on until the dinner bell 
calls me away. 

Well, friend Hildreth, I have heard from you 
often, and in places and positions that made me 
feel proud of my old pupil. Your remarks on fe- 
male education, before the Iowa State Board of 
Education, at Des Moines, were very similar to 
those recently expressed by our Republican Gov- 
ernor, 'Wisner, and are such as meet with my 
hearty approbation. I do hope you will succeed 
in your efforts in behalf of the girls of Iowa. They 
are deserving, I happen to know, for, in company 
with my wife, I spent an evening with a hundred 
and fifty ladies and gentlemen at Clinton, Iowa, 
last July, at an anniversary festival, and I can 
truly say that I was never more highly entertained 
in my life. We were traveling for pleasure, and 
should have visited you, had not the heat been so 
great and mosquitoes so thick. I don't know as 
we could have found you, but we felt that it was 
not rfght to set foot in the same State without 
making you a call. How far is your home from 
Clinton on the Mississippi? How long would it 
have taken us to reach you? Will you and Mrs. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 363 

H. go east next summer? If you do, make us a 
good visit. Come and stay a week and we will 
collect material for a good long article in your pa- 
per. 

My health is not good, but I am better than I 
was last year. I ride every day and study less 
than formerly. Much reading I find is weariness 
to the flesh, especially after teaching all day. 
Mrs. Bacon and the children are well. They often 
speak of you and wish to be remembered. My 
school remains the same; always full; and affords 
us a competence. I do not intend to teach more 
than half of the time hereafter. I am now in my 
ninetieth quarter in Detroit, and over one hun- 
dredth in the State and Territory of Michigan! 
There is a fact for you. 

One year ago yesterday my poor father, (your 
friend,) was laid away in the grave. The place of 
my nativity is a heap of ruins. There are none 
there now to take me by the hand in welcome, 
should I return. A long row of graves would sa- 
lute me, and the sighing winds over the hill-tops 
would be the only familiar sounds to fall on my 
ear. Oh! my friend, my heart aches when I think 
of the past, and I tremble at the prospect of the 
future. How soon, oh! how soon, will it be said 
of us, as of them, "they are dead." The Lord 
help us to be prepared for the great change that 
awaits us! 

I hope you will find time to write often. We are 
always so glad to hear from, you, and through you 
of your father and mother, who I hope are quite 
well. Affectionately your friend, 

Washington A. Bacon. 
To A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq. 



364 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Office State Superintendent Public Instruction, ) 
Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 25, 1850. ) 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Esteemed Friend: I scarcely needed the stimulus 
of your welcome letter of the 17th inst. to induce 
me to write you. That has but quickened the de- 
sire I before felt. In the outset, allow me to 
thank you for the complimentary terms you use in 
speaking of my late service as Secretary of the 
State Board of Education. I am happy to receive 
an assurance in words that I have your favorable 
opinion, in deeds. I had an assurance long ago 
equally satisfactory. 

I felt during the pendency of the election of 
permanent Secretary that in you I had a friend; 
and I felt, too, that in the election of Col. Thomas 
H. Benton, Jr. , to the post I sought, the Party 
was acting wisely, and I not only acquiesced in the 
policy that brought his name forward, but heartily 
approved it. Happy as I should have been to 
have been placed in a position of so much dignity 
and responsibility, I could say amen cheerfully 
when the good of the Republican cause dictated 
the choice of a man so widely and favorably known 
as Col. Benton is. Within the twenty days re- 
quired by the act he appeared and qualified. Be- 
fore his arrival he had, in a letter to one of my 
friends here, intimated his intention to give me 
the refusal of the position of deputy. This he 
accordingly did. The terms being satisfactory I 
accepted, and I shall therefore for the ensuing 
year be in and about the capitol. During the time I 
shall be glad to drop you an occasional line touch- 
ing the "doings" hereabouts, if so be that you 
wish the services of a gratuitous correspondent 
for your paper. The acts, resolutions, &c. , of the 
Board are printed and the binders will in a day or 
two commence delivering them. 

Your friend, 

Josiah T. Tubby. 
Deputy Sec'y Supt. Public Instruction. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 365 

Mitchell, Iowa, Feb. 26, 1859. 

My Deai- Hildreth: When I left you on New 
Year's morning I expected to see you again before 
now; in fact my better half and I at one time had 
the day set when we would ride down, and make 
you and yours a visit, compare notes, new dresses, 
&c, &c, and have a good time generally. But 
alas for human hopes! The snow left us before 
the appointed time, and we found ourselves and 
air-castles in the mud! 

We are in a very good degree consoled, how- 
ever, by the weekly arrival of your excellent pa- 
per, and wish we had something as good to send 
you in return. Speaking of papers reminds me of 
the N. Y. Independent, of the 3d inst. , containing 
an. extract from correspondence of the ' 'American 
Presbyterian," holding up to public censure those 
members of the Board of Education who were so 
unfortunate as to be obliged to start for their 
homes on Sunday; mentioning in particular the 
Governor, Lieut. Governor and a Congregational 
minister. If this extract is copied into the Demo- 
cratic papers of Iowa, as no doubt it will be, the 
facts in the case ought to be remembered. It is 
well known that Gov. Lowe received intelligence 
that one of his children was dangerously sick, and 
that he and Mrs. Lowe were requested to hasten 
home. They started the first opportunity — as 
what parent would not do so? — which was on Sun- 
day. In regard to ourselves, it is known to some of 
our friends in Des Moines that we designed starting 
on Monday, I had told several of this, and hence 
there were three or four invitations to dinner on 
Sunday. You know the sequel; how that, in con- 
sequence of the melting of the snow the streams 
were rapidly rising, and we started Sunday P. M. , 
just in time to cross "Pour Mile Creek," and then 
put up for the night. 

According to Dr. Wayland's "Moral Science," 
the quality of our action lies in the intention. Our 
intention was to start on Monday, but circum- 



366 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

stances obliged us to start on Sunday; ergo, we 
ought to be credited with an early start on Mon- 
day. 

The statement in regard to Rev. Mr. Canfield is 
simply untrue. He started Saturday morning, 
and stopped over to preach. Now for the writer 
of this precious scandal. I believe him to be no 
other than Rev. (?) S. Storrs Howe! You know he 
was candidate for Secretary of the Board, and 
afterward he wished to be employed as Assistant 
Secretary, He failed in these projects, and also 
in having certain acts passed by which he would 
be indirectly pecuniarily benefited; and to cap 
the climax of his disappointment, Thomas H. Ben- 
ton was elected Secretary of the Board. 

Another reason why I think this Rev. (?) Howe 
is the author is that he is a New School Presby- 
terian, and he especially designated Gov. Lowe as 
an Old School Presbyterian; the Lieut. Governor 
(myself) as a Methodist, and the minister (Can- 
field) as a Congregationalist. Howe is equally 
hostile to each church, and has taken this occasion 
to ventilate his Pharisaic wrath against the men 
and the churches. 

Please excuse this foreign matter. For I de- 
signed to write upon politics and railroads, but 
must defer that till a more convenient season. 

Yours faithfully, 

O. Faville. 



Mitchell, Iowa, March 12, 1859. 

Friend Hildreth: Your favor of the 3d inst. has 
just come to hand — only nine days on the road! 
I hope the letter I wrote you about the same time 
has fared no worse. I am obliged to you for the 
news from Des Moines. I have received letters 
from there recently, but not a word on political 
matters. I suspected there was some wire-work- 
ing at head-quarters which it was deemed import- 
ant to keep from the dear people as long as possi- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 367 

ble. Now, as far as I am concerned, the managers 
can relieve themselves of all responsibility by not 
taking me into the account at all. They need not 
take the trouble to "throw me overboard.' ' I wish 
it distinctly understood that I am not a candidate 
for renomination. Thankful for favors already 
received, I desire to make my best bow and retire. 
I have not yet publicly announced my determina- 
tion, for I have seen no necessity for it, as it 
might be a work of supererogation to decline what 
has not been offered me. 

Jesse Clement (your old friend) has recently 
visited our county. He lectured twice in Osage, 
and then came here. I hope he will speak as well 
of us as he did of Floyd county people. 

Can you not come up and bring your better half 
and make us a visit? We intended to visit you 
before the snow melted, and you must give us 
credit for our good intentions and consider your- 
selves in our debt. Moreover, I think it would 
be well for us to talk over matters and things in 
general, and especially political matters in con- 
nection with our railroad projects. These are too 
prolific themes for epistolary effusions, to say 
nothing of the impropriety of committing to paper 
plans and projects that contingent circumstances 
might compel us to abandon. 

As ever, yours truly, 

O. Faville. 



Mitchell, Iowa, June 26, 1859. 

Friend Hildreth: Your note of the 11th inst., in- 
viting me to attend the State Convention with 
you, came to hand yesterday, only two weeks from 
the date of writing it! This is a great "keden- 
try/'butnot very fast. I did think of going to 
Des Moines, but finally gave it up on account of 
being almost down sick with a bad cold. I am 
glad that your county was represented. I hope 
you had a pleasant time and have brought out a 



368 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

good ticket. By this time you are almost home, 
especially if you travel on Sunday, and I shall learn 
the result soon. I shall go to Osage in a day or 
two, if I am able to, and shall learn the general 
outline of affairs from Smith and Hutchins; but I 
should like to hear from you more in detail of any 
matters of interest that may have come under your 
observation. What route did you take? Where 
did you put up? How are the roads? How are 
the crops? How did you find the people in Des 
Moines? I hope you will not be wearied with my 
many questions. The weather is decidedly warm. 
The mercury now is at 85° above zero in the shade. 
When are you and yours coming up to see us? 

Priest (?) Howe has written, requesting a state- 
ment of my former connection with the schools. 
&c, for publication in a paper that he is issuing. 
I declined the honor of being brought out under 
such auspices! I wonder that he should wish to 
give favorable notoriety to men so corrupting to 
public morals as he so recently represented six 
members of the Board of Education to be. What 
think you? As ever your friend, 

O. Faville. 



Office of Secretary of the Board of Education, | 
Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 9, 1860. j 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, Charles City, Iowa. 

Dear Sir: I send you to-day. in a separate pack- 
age, the Journal of the Senate and the Special 
Laws of the last session of the General Assembly. 
The Journal of the House is not yet ready. A 
volume of 400 pages of Township Laws is also in- 
complete, but will soon be ready. The Code of 
1150 pages is ready for distribution in part, and 
the Secretary of State is now making arrangement 
for its distribution. 

I have been under the impression that I am in- 
debted to you for my re-election; and I wish to as- 
sure you that if opportunity should ever offer for 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 369 

me to reciprocate, I shall do so cheerfully. I shall 
leave in the morning for the south-eastern coun- 
ties, and shall not return to Des Moines until 
about the 27th inst. Present my compliments to 
Mrs. Hildreth, and command my services when- 
ever you wish any thing I can do for you. 
Truly your friend, 

Thomas H. Benton, Jr. 



West Mitchell, Iowa, Sept. 10, 1862. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 

My Dear Colonel: How do you get along with 
your duties as Draft Commissioner? With Indian 
wars, drafting, and editing newspapers, I think 
you must reduce your corporosity and aldermanic 
proportions! Gov. Kirkwood sends word tome to 
attend to the business from day to day until he 
gives the order to proceed with the draft. We 
have completed our rolls and find that we have 
sent to the War 241 men, and have 460 left who 
are fit for military duty, besides a large number of 
sick, lame, halt and blind! If we do finally draft, 
I should like to join our forces with yours and 
proceed to the encampment together. You shall 
command the entire squad, and if you exhibit good 
military points you may expect promotion. I ex- 
pect to be drafted and train as a high private! 

It seems that Messrs. Bowdoin and Fuller failed 
of obtaining their commissions. Somebody has 
been working a new card. Has Dubuque been fig- 
uring in the matter? If so, it is discreditable to 
her politicians. She should not claim everything. 
It appears that no change has been made in any 
district but this. It may be all right, but I do not 
like the looks of it. 

I suppose you will not venture up this way with 
your better half until the Indians are killed off! 
Most every one here has been badly scared; but 
we feel quite safe now that we have some guns 
coming. I wish every red-skin between here and 

47 



370 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

the Rocky Mountains had a Southern rebel on his 
back, and the whole posse, rebs and reds, were 
driven into the Pacific Ocean, then, ' 'requiescat in 
pace!" Your comrade, 

O. Faville. 



Iowa, September 14, 1863. 

To the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, 

Secretary of State of the United States: 

Sir: We the undersigned, loyal citizens of Iowa, 
respectfully ask that, in the selection of newspa- 
pers for publishing the Laws of the Thirty-eighth 
Congress, Treaties, &c. , the ' 'Republican Intelligen- 
cer" printed at Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa, 
may be designated as one of those newspapers. 

We ask this patronage because the Intelligencer 
is a journal of the highest respectability; is an 
able advocate of the Loyal Union Cause of the 
State and Nation, and because we desire to en- 
courage such press in Northern Iowa. 

J. G. Patterson, Wm. Johnson, M. D., 

D. M. Ferguson, S. B. Starr, 
Wm. H. Sessions, E. G. Bowdoin, 
H. A. Wiltse, Wm. B. Fairfield, 
Josiah Knight, S. J. Kirkwood, 
J. Cheston Whitney, Geo. G. Wright, 
S. B. Hewett, Jr., H. M. Hoxie, 

E. H. Williams, J. M. Shaffer, 

D. N. Cooley, F. W. Palmer, 

E. C. David. John A. Elliott, 
Shubael P. Adams, Wm. Duane Wilson, 
J. L. Harvey, D. C. Bloomer. 



Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 12, 1863. 

Hon. Wm. B. Allison: 

My Bear Sir: Permit me to call your attention, 
and through you that of the other members of the 
Congressional delegation from Iowa, to the dis- 
tribution of Federal patronage. You are aware 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 371 

that Government favors have seldom been be- 
stowed in the northern half of the State. Of this 
we do not complain, for circumstances have not 
been in our favor. We think, however, that a 
moiety of the Government printing should be 
awarded us, not on account of locality so much as 
from the fact that persistent efforts have been 
made there for some years to sustain reliable Re- 
publican papers, and to this fact is due our in- 
creasing Union majorities. Hence we ask your 
influence to secure the Government printing for 
the "Charles City Republican Intelligencer." Its 
editor and proprietor is well known to you and 
needs no recommendation from me. Mr. Palmer, 
State Printer, does not expect to retain the Gov- 
ernment printing and we think it should be given 
to our District. Yours truly, 

O. Paville. 



Davenport, Iowa, Oct. 12, 1863. 

To the Iowa Delegation in Congress: 

Gentlemen: Permit me most earnestly to recom- 
mend the selection of the Charles City Intelligencer 
as one of the papers to print the laws of the Thir- 
ty-eighth Congress. 

I could state the reasons upon which I base the 
recommendation, but as they are known to a por- 
tion of the delegation it is unnecessary. 

Yours respectfully, 

Jno. P. Dillon. 



Clermont, Iowa, Oct. 30, 1863. 

Gentlemen: Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth, of Charles 
City, Floyd county, wants the printing of the 
Laws of the Thirty-eighth Congress. He ought 
to have it, and I hope you will find it consistent 
with the public interest to give it to him. He 
commenced the Intelligencer early in the settlement 
of the upper valley of the Cedar river, and has by 



372 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

diligence and perseverance published the best 
newspaper I have seen in the State, and in manner 
and matter it is a credit to Iowa. Mr. Hildreth 
has given the Republican cause an able and dis- 
creet advocacy, and he can be trusted. I know 
Mr. Hildreth intimately and it is simple justice to 
award him singular intellectual ability and liter- 
ary merit which he has devoted to the Republican 
cause. 

We have from the organization of the Republi- 
can party until this year, in proportion to our 
population, polled a larger Republican vote than 
any other portion of the State, and we polled this 
vote when it was decisive of the political character 
of the State. This may happen again and it will 
be more pleasant to give our vote to those who 
not only represent our convictions but also have 
gained our regard. 

Respectfully yours, 

Elias H. Williams. 

To the Iowa Delegation, Washington D. C. 



Davenport, Oct., 15, 1863. 

Hon. O. Faville, Des Moines: 

Dear Sir: Yours of the 12th inst. in reference 
to Government printing for Hon. A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, is received. I had received some days 
since a letter on the same subject, and when Sen- 
ator Grimes was here on the 9th inst., I spoke to 
him on the subject. Mr. Hildreth can count on 
my assistance and also that of Senator Grimes. 
I am very truly yours, 

Hiram Price. 



Burlington, Iowa, Oct. 19, 1863. 

My Dear Sir: I will certainly render you all the 
aid I can in regard to the Government printing, I 
did so before, and was not aware that the printing 
had been taken from you till now. I think it is 
due that it should be restored to you. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 373 

We have not merely beaten the so-called Demo- 
cratic party in this State — we have destroyed it. 

Yours truly, 

James W. Grimes. 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Rockford, Iowa, Oct. 20, 1863, 

To the Hon. Iowa Congressional Delegation: 
Gentlemen: Some two years since, by a mutual 
arrangement on the part of their friends, the 
State printing was secured to Mr. Palmer and the 
Congressional printing for the northern portion of 
the State to Mr. Hildreth. This arrangement I 
believe was satisfactory to both gentlemen, but on 
the incoming of the present Congress the Govern- 
ment printing was taken from Mr. Hildreth and 
given to Mr. Palmer, thus making him the recipi- 
ent of both offices. This I am informed, and have 
reason to believe, was done without the request of 
Mr. Palmer and that he is willing it should be re- 
turned to Mr. Hildreth. This, I believe, would be 
satisfactory all around, and I hope it will be done. 
Mr. Hildreth has maintained his paper almost ever 
since the organization of Floyd county. It is no 
injustice to others to say that his paper is not in- 
ferior to any one in the State. It is centrally situ- 
ated in the northern portion of our State, and I 
believe its original selection met with general ap- 
probation as a justly merited reward to energy 
and ability. Its restoration would be hailed with 
a like hearty approval. Hoping that this may be 
done. I remain 

Yours very respectfully, 

E. G. Bowdoin. 



Davenport, Iowa, Nov. 15, 1863. 
Hon. Hiram Price, M. C, 

Dear Sir: You will recollect that I saw you 
when Senator Grimes was here, and you said that 
you had also seen him, and that I could write Mr. 



374 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Hildreth, editor of the Charles City Intelligencer, 
that you would both favor the selection of his pa- 
per as one of those in which the laws of the Thir- 
ty-eighth Congress should be published. I write 
this in order that you should be reminded of it if 
it would otherwise escape your recollection. 

Yours truly, 

Jno. F. Dillon. 



To the Ioiva Delegation in Congress: Believing 
that the Charles City Intelligencer should be select- 
ed as one of the papers for publishing the Laws 
of the Thirty-eighth Congress, I do not wish the 
"Iowa State Register" to be regarded in competi- 
tion for, or an obstacle to, the appointment of that 
paper. Your obedient servant, 

F. W. Palmer. 

Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. 16, 1863. 



Department of State, ) 
Washington, Dec. 24, 1863. j 

To the Publisher op the Charles City In- 
telligencer, Charles City, Iowa: 

Sir: The Charles City Intelligencer has been se- 
lected for publishing the Acts, Resolutions and 
Orders, except such as are of a private nature, 
passed during the First Session of the Thirty- 
eighth Congress; and also all Public Treaties en- 
tered into and ratified by the United States, ex- 
cepting Indian Treaties. 

Should you accept the appointment, you will 
please signify such acceptance to this department 
immediately on receipt hereof, and not omit to in- 
form it, at the same time, of the person who will 
be entitled to the compensation for the publication 
herein authorized. Your compensation will be at 
the rate of one dollar for each printed page of the 
pamphlet of Acts, Resolutions, Orders and Treat- 
ies published by you. 

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

William H. Seward. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 375 

Little Rock, Arkansas, Feb. 7, 1864. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, Des Moines, Iowa: 

My Dear Sir: I trust you have an occasional re- 
membrance of your old co-laborer in the State 
Board of Education. It is more than two years 
since I parted with my friends at our last meeting 
as a Board — you to take up your pen and I my 
sword in behalf of the same great sacred cause. 
Little did we dream that it would be necessary for 
us to put on our armor for so long a struggle. We 
thought that in a few months the contest would 
end. Yet years have elapsed and God only knows 
whether or not we have but just commenced the 
work, or whether or not alas our national sins 
have been too. flagrant to be forgiven. 

I did not, however, take my pen to write upon 
national prospects, although I confess to some 
gloomy forebodings; and, besides, if I should tell 
you my thoughts on the way this war is conduct- 
ed, "faith you would print them," then down 
would come my commission as Lieut. Colonel of 
the Fortieth Iowa Infantry. 

Doubtless before this reaches you something 
will be done with the School Laws. I wish I could 
whisper a kind word into the ears of those mem- 
bers of your Honorable Body — the House of Rep- 
resentatives — who think it very popular and very 
smart to vilify the Board of Education and all its 
acts. Says one member, "It is a humbug;" an- 
other, "It is a nuisance, and should be abated at 
once." Another berates the system as loudly as 
though he really knew something about it. An- 
other risks his reputation for sanity by the as- 
tounding assertion that no more school houses 
have been built under the present law in a given 
period than under the old law! I venture the as- 
sertion that he is one of Perry's* constituents. 

These comments amuse and at the same time 
pain me. I do regret that men with sufficient in- 
telligence to be elected to the Legislature of Iowa 

* Former member of State Board of Education — a Democrat 



376 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

should be so lamentably ignorant, or prejudiced, 
or both. I have watched with the deepest interest 
the debates on this subject, but my papers come 
so irregularly that I can form no correct idea as to 
how things are going. 

I notice with pleasure that you are chairman of 
the Committee on Schools, &c, and I rejoice that 
your power to prevent mischief is so great. 

Now, friend Hildreth, don't let them go back to 
the old system. It would set us back fifty years. 
Changes are undoubtedly called for in the laws, 
but I implore you not to suffer any radical amend- 
ment, such as will kill or cripple its efficiency as a 
system. If I could only hope you would be sus- 
tained, I would entreat you to perfect the system 
by sweeping out the so-called sub-districts entire- 
ly. There will be more or less clashing and jar- 
ring while there are separate interests in one dis- 
trict, but let there be really, as in name, one dis- 
trict, one interest, one school, in each township; 
then would the school system of Iowa be her 
crowning glory! I dare not hope for such a con- 
summation now. The people are not quite pre- 
pared for this blessing; but, my dear friend, may 
you and I live to see many years of its practical 
workings and success in our State. 

I do hope the General Assembly will allow the 
township system to remain. If any amendments 
can be made to cause it to run more smoothly, all 
right; but I almost tremble lest in removing sup- 
posed excrescences they will go too deep and en- 
danger its vitality. 

You and I have probably spent more anxious 
hours over our present school laws than any other 
two men in the State, unless it be Rozelle and 
Faville. We know it is the system for our State. 
For one, I would rather see Iowa in the hands of 
Democracy — (the Lord preserve us from such a 
catastrophe) — than to see our present school sys- 
tem set aside for the old, narrow, single district 
system. This letter may be too late to affect your 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 377 

mind one way or another. Indeed, it may be quite 
unnecessary, but I thought I would write you a 
word by way of remembrance and encouragement. 

Yours sincerely, 

Samuel P. Cooper. 



Post-Office, Head-Quarters Department ] 

and Army of the Tennessee, > 
Huntsville, Ala., May 5, 1864. ) 

Dear Hildreth: I enclose you photographs of 
three of our fighting Generals. I will only say, 
by way of explanation, what Grant said at Vicks- 
burg, that Sherman could fight a battle, McPher- 
son plan a campaign, and Logan could swear more 
than any man in the U. S. Army. 

I should be pleased to hear from you. I sent 
you a private letter some time since. Although I 
judge your time is more than occupied by the 
many duties devolving upon you, still I wish you 
could write me. I am having a very good time, 
having been made Postmaster of this Department. 
The work keeps me very busy, as there are over 
fifty mail agents to superintend. I think that I 
have no reason to complain. I was first detailed 
as McPherson's private mail messenger; then 
made Postmaster of Right Wing 13th Army Corps 
in November, 1862. Then I was made Postmaster 
17th Army Corps, which position I filled for six- 
teen months, and have lately been promoted to 
Postmaster of Department of the Tennessee, with 
one hundred dollars per month pay. Had I a de- 
sire to remain in the service I could take the posi- 
tion of Postmaster of the Military Division of the 
Mississippi; but I think three years a soldier is 
enough; at least until some of the stay-at-homes 
are called into the field. 

Hoping to hear from you soon, and with many 
kind wishes, I am 

Very truly yours, 

Winfield S. Rider. 

48 



378 miscellaneous letters to 

Head-Quarters Department and Army ) 

of the Tennessee, Chattanooga, > 
Tenn., June 11, 1864. j 

Friend Hildreth: Your letter, enclosing one to 
Hon. Wm. B. Allison, is this day received. I 
thank you for the kindness shown me and will 
duly reciprocate should any opportunity offer. I 
immediately wrote to Messrs. Allison and Harlan 
and explained what I wanted. Sometime ago I 
sent to Gov. Stone a recommendation, and a strong 
one, signed by Gen. McPherson and Staff, and en- 
dorsed by Gen. F. P. Blair and Gen. Alexander, 
requesting that I should be appointed a Route 
Agent in the Post-office Department. This docu- 
ment I sent to Gov. Kirkwood with the request 
that he would affix his signature to it and trans- 
mit it to the Postmaster General at Washington. 
I think the Governor will do that for an Iowa sol- 
dier, one who has served three years. I also re- 
quested that he would have all communications 
addressed to me in your care at Charles City. 
You will greatly oblige me if you will open and 
attend to all those letters and forward them to me 
at Vicksburg, Miss. I think I will receive the 
position. If I do not it will not be because I do 
not have good backing. I shall start for Vicks- 
burg to-morrow, June 12, and may remain there 
some time. I am very much .gratified to learn that 
Mrs. Hildreth was pleased with those flowers 
which I sent her from Old Lookout Mountain. 
Please say to her, with my compliments, that I am 
an out and out Lincoln man, and am not tinctured 
in the least with copperheadism. My morals are 
good; at least I try to conduct myself at all times 
as a gentleman. 

My reason for going to Vicksburg you will 
probably see in your marriage notices ere long. 
This is confidential. 

Please send my "Intelligencer" to Vicksburg, 
as I cannot do without it. 

The General and Staff gave me a magnificent 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 379 

present when I was discharged. It was a splen- 
did steel engraved parchment with an allegorical 
portrait of the goddess of Liberty leading on the 
army. It has a beautiful inscription in German 
text, and is signed by the General and Staff. It is 
most beautifully framed. Thanking you for many 
courtesies, with good wishes and assurances of my 
sincere friendship, I am truly yours, 

Winfield Scott Rider. 



Vicksburg, Miss., June 28, 1864. 

Friend Hildreth: Your favor of the 20th inst. is 
at hand. I sincerely thank you for your manifold 
kindness towards me, and I hope I can one day 
personally thank you for all. I have not yet re- 
ceived your letter sent to Chattanooga. It will 
probably come around all "O. K." I feel almost 
certain that I shall obtain the situation. 

On the first of next month I shall commence 
clerking for Lieut. Johnson, Quarter- master, and 
will receive good pay. I know my penmanship 
can be improved, but I think I am acquainted with 
much of the business connected with the army. 

By next mail I shall send a somewhat lengthy 
letter for the "Intelligencer." 

My "little rebel" is all "O. K." and I shall use 
all the means in my power to infuse patriotism 
into her heart and make her a devoted lover of the 
— our union! 

Kind regards to Mrs. Hildreth. 

Truly yours, 

Winfield S. Rider. 



House of Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, May 5, 1864. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: Your favor, having reference to the 
Bradford Post-office, is received. Mr. Vinton, of 
Bradford, has been here, and the Post-office De- 



380 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

partment is disposed to act upon the case pre- 
sented. 

I received a letter last night from Mr. Mathews 
on the subject of a Congressional Convention, pro- 
posing to hold it on the 15th of June. This is ear- 
lier than I had anticipated. He informs me that 
he has written to the other members of the Com- 
mittee, and if they concur with him the call will 
be made for about that time. I have answered 
him that if this meets the views of our friends I 
would have no objection, but I would no $, want an 
early convention if any dissatisfaction would arise 
therefrom. I thank you for your expressions fa- 
vorable to my re-nomination. I feel that, unless 
I have failed in the discharge of my duty, I de- 
serve it. 

I have succeeded in getting through the House 
for you my McGregor land grant bill. It will also 
pass the Senate; probably to-day. This bill is 
preferable to Senator Harlan's for the reason that 
it is of present benefit to the Railroad Company. 
Mr. Harlan's bill only allowed the Railroad Com- 
pany co-terminous sections of land to road actually 
built, thus compelling them to build one hundred 
and fifty miles or more of road before they could 
get any lands. Under my bill they draw lands for 
every ten miles, and must build twenty miles each 
and every year or forfeit the grant. Mr. Harlan 
will accept the proposition. Judge Hubbard, from 
Sioux City, has faithfully stood by me in the mat- 
ter, although seemingly against his interest. But 
he believes with me that it is better to give the 
Company immediate aid so as to insure the com- 
pletion of the road, at least to the Cedar river val- 
ley, without delay. Very truly yours, 

Wm. B. Allison. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 381 

Office of Secretary U. S. Senate, ( 
Washington, May 5, 1864. j 

Friend Hildreth: I send you to-day a copy of 
the Smithsonian Report and a set of three volumes 
Report of Committee on Conduct of the War. You 
will find them useful for reference. 

How are matters moving" in your section? I 
trust our railroad prospects are brightening up 
and that money will seek an investment in our un- 
settled lands — not the money of speculators, but 
of enterprising men who will come among us with 
the view of improving what they purchase. 

Our Representative, Col. Allison, made an able 
and appropriate speech in the House last eve- 
ning. I happened to be present and heard it. 
The speech and the manner of delivery were cred- 
itable both to himself and to our District. When 
will our Congressional Convention be held, and 
will there be any opposition to Mr. Allison's re- 
nomination? 

Let me hear from you on these matters and 
oblige Yours truly, 

N. C. Deering. 



Office of Secretary U. S. Senate, 
Washington, May 24, 1864. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: I send you to-day Senate Bill 132, 
and will take it as a favor if you will publish in 
your paper the portion herewith enclosed, (the 
main bill I send under another wrapper,) which is 
the amendment proposed by Senator Harlan on 
the 20th inst. and adopted by the Senate. As our 
section of Iowa is largely interested in this and 
other railroad matters I trust you will be pleased 
to spread the amendment in full before your read- 
ers. As the "Standard" has but a small circula- 
tion I prefer sending to you. The bill is amenda- 
tory of the Pacific railroad bill of July, 1862. It 
has passed the Senate and is now before the Com- 



382 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

mittee on Pacific Railroad of the House. I would 
respectfully suggest that it be headed "Senator 
Harlan's Amendment to Pacific R. R. Bill," and 
then a few editorial explanatory remarks, substan- 
tially as follows: 

We notice that on the 20th inst. the bill amenda- 
tory of the Pacific R. R. Act of 1862, being before 
the U. S. Senate, Mr. Harlan proposed the follow- 
ing amendment, which was adopted, &c. You will 
best understand the appropriate remarks. 

Congress is now in earnest and will do up their 
work and adjourn within a few weeks. Gen. 
Grant is moving with that stern inflexibility of 
purpose and will for which he is remarkable — 
cool, calm, steady, and confident of a final tri- 
umph. I know the Government think he is the 
man to close up the War. 

Mr. Lincoln will be renominated for President, 
and I deem it best that he should be. He has 
committed some mistakes, but at the same time he 
has done some good service and the people are 
generally satisfied. They have confidence in his 
integrity and the purity of his motives. 
Very truly yours, 

N. C. Deering. 



United States of America, 38th Congress, ) 

House of Representatives, > 

Washington, May 28, 1864. ) 

Friend Hildreth: Your favor is just received. I 
also received a Dubuque Times this morning, say- 
ing that Reuben Noble declines to be a candidate 
for Supreme Judge. I think there must be a mis- 
take in this. If so, no time should be lost in mak- 
ing the connection. I have this morning written 
Mr. Noble on the subject. I have clearly talked 
with all our members except Mr. Kasson, with 
reference to Mr. Noble; they all concur, except 
Mr. Grinnell, that the office is due to us. Mr. 
Price said unhesitatingly that he would go for 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 383 

Noble if in the Convention. One difficulty is in 
the way. None of us can be at home until after 
the State Convention is held, from present appear- 
ances. 

As to the U. S. Senate: I have no doubt your 
statements are correct as to the ambitious views 
of certain gentlemen at Des Moines. My opinion 
is that Senator Harlan, if a candidate, will be the 
strongest, otherwise Gov. Kirkwood. I am con- 
tent to be re-nominated and occupy my present 
position, and will feel especially grateful for such 
mark of confidence in my poor efforts. I hope no 
one will think I have an aspiration for the Senate. 
I think if our friends are determined and persist- 
ent, at Des Moines, Mr. Noble can be nominated. 
I shall do all in my power to secure his nomina- 
tion. 

I think the McGregor land grant will secure the 
rapid completion of the railroad to your place, at 
least. I thank you for complimentary remarks as 
to the merits of my speech. It will be printed in 
a few days, when I will send you a few extra 
copies for distribution. 

I received a letter from Mr. Mathews a few days 
ago, in which he says that our Congressional Con- 
vention will not be held till the last of August. 
This appears to be more satisfactory to all con- 
cerned. I think we shall adjourn early in Jujy. 

I shall be glad to hear from you at any time. 

Yours in haste, 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. Wm. B. Allison. 



Detroit, Mich., June 5, 1864. 

Dear Friend: It has been a long time since any 
letters have passed between us, although I must 
acknowledge the receipt of several papers. I 
know not who wrote last, nor do I care. Letters 
between us are always in order, so I send you a 
few lines this afternoon. I have never enjoyed 
better health, nor been more prospered, than dur- 



384 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

ing the last year; thanks to a kind and indulgent 
Heavenly Parent. Mrs. Bacon, though never ro- 
bust, is also quite well. Charlie and Kittie, now 
nineteen and sixteen, are well-grown children, 
both professing Christians, and members of Dr. 
Hogarth's church. The former has been for two 
years in the recruiting and disbursing office sta- 
tioned in this city, on a pay of $75.00 per month, 
and makes as much more at extra writing, done 
out of office hours, for officers that are unable to do 
their own work and who employ him. He has laid 
by in the 5:20 U. S. bonds $1500.00. Kate is my 
darling, a beautiful singer and plays well on the 
piano. You must know that I have learned the 
violin in my old age, and what with Charles' voice 
and Kate's, together with our instruments and the 
newspapers, we manage to pass off the evenings 
very pleasantly, and I trust profitably; for, I hold 
with Lawrence Sterne, that "a contented mind 
is the best offering we can present to our Creator." 

Two years ago I visited Vermont, but there are 
very few of our old friends left. My sister re- 
sides in Chelsea, Vt. ; cousin Tom Bacon lives on 
the 10- acre lot. I called to see him. He inquired 
after you, so did Hacket Scribner, living on the 
old Ruf us Lathrop place. Dunham Bacon I did 
not see. Bill Bacon lives on his father's old place 
with his mother. Ervilla and Anjulia, his sisters, 
are both dead. 

I went up to my father's old place with my wife 
and Kate and took dinner there. I tell you it 
seemed like old times. One of the Sergeant girls, 
the widow Abbott, lives there and owns the place. 
The water still runs out from under the rock in 
front of the house, and gurgles and sings along as 
it passes the church-yard below, where sleep my 
parents and friends of the olden time. Oh! my 
dear sir, my heart aches when I think of those 
noble dead. Never shall we see their like again! 
I often compare those sturdy farmers, Christians 
and patriots, with the miserable men of the pres- 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 385 

ent time. Do you think that your father and 
mine, were they now living, would sympathize 
with Jeff. Davis and the Copperheads? God for- 
bid! I love to think of them in martial array — the 
Bacons, the Hildreths, the Tracys the Sleepers, 
the Scribners, the Sergeants, the Austins, the 
Powers, the Fellows, the Georges, the Dickinsons, 
the Stevens; men all of about the same age, 
charging on the traitorous crew! They were iron 
men, men who would not turn on the heel to save 
life. But I trust they are now safe where no ele- 
ment of discord is known! 

I think some of visiting the old Green Mountain 
home again this summer. My school will close in 
three weeks, and then I shall be idle, or rather at 
leisure for a couple of months. 

What do you think of Gen. Grant — ''my Grant?"'' 
He was once my tenant, and lived in my house two 
years. I tell you he will soon capture Richmond 
and the whole rebel army! I have the greatest con- 
fidence in him and "Old Abe," and the Adminis- 
tration generally. 

I have $5000.00 in the U. S. 5:20 bonds. "Sink 
or swim, survive or perish," I am for the prosecu- 
tion of the war, "till the last armed foe expires!" 

Let me hear from you soon, and if possible come 
and see us and bring along Mrs. Hildreth. 
Yours as ever, 

Washington A. Bacon. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Detroit, September 18, 1864. 

Friend Hildreth: I received a good letter from 
you sometime since, which was read, as all your 
letters are, by our family, with much interest. It 
having been mislaid I shall not attempt an answer 
but shall write whatever is uppermost in my mind 
in reply. First and foremost then, the Chicago 
convention has met and dispersed, after having 
eternally disgraced the name of Democrat. Such 

49 



386 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

a congregation of traitors I do not believe ever 
assembled on the continent, outside Richmond, 
and I doubt if as many black-hearted villians, cer- 
tainly not as many sneaks, ever assembled before 
in that doomed city. But their race is short, and 
they know it, therefore their willingness to join 
hands with Jeff. Davis in the vain hope that by so 
doing they may destroy our Government and start 
another, with slavery for its "chief corner stone." 
This they are ready to do and lick the slavocrat's 
feet for the sake of the third and fourth -rate 
offices they might be permitted to share, and 
which they would thankfully receive from the 
hands of their masters! I wish that I could see 
you. I should like to dissect their most miserable 
platform on which George B. McClelland is to 
stand. It is a disgrace to human nature! The 
sneaks — the peace sneaks — they deserve hanging. 
I had the mortification of entertaining two of their 
delegates with their wives at my house, Col. Dick- 
ey and Col. Worthen of Bradford, Vt., and two 
more bitter, unreasonable men I never conversed 
with. Dickey starts off on the principle that slav- 
ery is right, is of Divine origin, and that the war 
"is a d d Abolition war," and of course wrong! 

I gave them a piece of my mind, which. I was 
sorry to do at my own table. I told them that, 
after the taking of Atlanta and Richmond, we 
were going to hang and shoot every man, North 
and South, who should be found in arms against 
the Government, or, what was quite as wicked, 
bleating treason through our streets! 

But I must stop this yarn. I am glad that the 
draft is to commence to-morrow, and I do hope 
that every "copperhead" will have to go where 
Uriah's wife's husband was put, in the fore-front 
of the hottest battle. 

I am an old man; too old to fight; but I have 
furnished more than five thousand dollars of the 
sinews of war, and I wish I could increase it a 
thousand fold. Charlie is working away, day and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 387 

night, in the Provost Marshal's office, and Miss 
Kate with him. Next year Charles will be old 
enough to fight, and will go if needed. 

My school is full and prosperous. My health is 
good, and on the whole I don't know that I have 
ever enjoyed life better than I have the year past. 

Mrs. Bacon and the children desire to be re- 
membered kindly to Mr. and 5 Mrs. Hildreth, and 
hope you will visit us sometime, and stay longer 
than when last here. 

Does it ever occur to you how those Vermont 
mountain maples, at this season of the year, are 
flaming red over our fathers' graves? How I wish, 
my dear sir, that you and I, just you and I, could 
be in Vermont a few days or weeks together, this 
autumn, and wander over those grand old hills. 
Tears fairly roll down my cheeks at the thought! 
But I must close. Good-bye, again good-bye. 
As ever, faithfully yours, 

Washington A. Bacon. 

To my old pupil, 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Little Rock, Ark., Sept. 28, 1864. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

My Dear Sir: In view of all that is before us I 
think the crisis demands at our hands a united ef- 
fort. I have no fear as to the result in Iowa, but 
I think it essential to roll up the figures and let 
the world see that Iowa talks right, votes right, 
and acts right. Every effort is being made to de- 
ceive the people. I claim that we are the only 
real peace party in the country, and that our only 
hope of a speedy and permanent peace is to prose- 
cute the war with vigor and re-elect Mr. Lincoln. 
His re-election, in my opinion, will cut off the last 
hope of the rebels and virtually end the war. I 
know not whether I shall live through the war or 
not, but I am resolved to do my duty while I do 
live. The end is beginning to appear. The situ- 



388 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

ation of the rebels is fast approaching despera- 
tion, and now is the time to hold them to the 
work. We want no let up policy at this critical 
juncture. An armistice would be an insult and an 
outrage to the army. 

We have no news here of interest. Every thing 
is quiet. Our force is not sufficient to make a 
move. We are 230 *miles from our actual base of 
supplies, the Mississippi river. This is a long 
line to protect, and it requires about our whole 
force to do it. So soon as we can be re-inforced, 
I think we shall begin to push the rebels. 
Yours truly, 

Thomas H. Benton. 
Colonel 29th Iowa Infantry. 



Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 20, 1864. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: The field officers of this Brigade, to 
which I belong, have given me a very flattering 
recommendation for promotion to the position of 
Brigadier General of Volunteers, which has re- 
ceived the cordial approval of Brigade, Division, 
District and Department Commanders, under whom 
I have served for the past two years. The origi- 
nal I have sent to Mr. Kasson, our Representative 
in Congress, to be placed on file in the War De- 
partment; and a copy I have sent to Gov. Faville, 
at Des Moines, simply for his information, and 
have requested him to forward it to you. I wish 
you to draw up a recommendation, (brief and con- 
cise,) addressed to the Secretary of War, and get 
such friends to sign it as you think proper, and 
enclose it to Mr. Kasson with a request that he 
forward it to Washington. 

I have been a citizen of Iowa since the spring of 
1839, and trust I have labored to some purpose in 
helping to build up her institutions and to keep 
her honor untarnished. When the Democratic 
party, then dominant in the State, proposed to 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 389 

commit the State to disunion and secession I 
promptly severed my connection with it, though 
at the sacrifice of a seat in Congress, then within 
my grasp, from the District of which yours is now 
a part. I have never held a Federal appointment, 
and only propose to do so now in the military 
service of the country, where I hope to be instru- 
mental in restoring the supremacy of the laws. 
For two years I have served faithfully in the field. 
I have not been among that class of officers who 
have spent their time running home or drinking 
lager beer and whiskey, but have stood at my post 
through thick and thin, having seen my family 
but once in two years. I can say without boasting 
that I have one of the finest Regiments in the 
service, and that I have the entire confidence of 
my officers and men. I have been in six engage- 
ments, two of them (Helena and Jenkins' Ferry, ) 
equal for hard fighting to any of the war. The 
latter was especially severe, and history will 
never give us credit for our deeds on that occa- 
sion. It was no bush or breast-work affair, but an 
open field-fight between two armies within a hun- 
dred paces of each other, engaged in deadly con- 
flict for over six hours, when the enemy gave way, 
and left us masters of the field. My regiment had 
the post of honor and of danger, the right and the 
road, by which the enemy was approaching, and 
held it triumphantly. 

At the engagement of Terre Noir Creek, (black 
earth) my regiment alone, with nearly two to one 
against it, beat the enemy back for over three 
hours, and saved the supply train of the whole 
army, over five hundred wagons, unharmed. This 
fight was one which tried the bottom of both 
officers and men. We were thrown ' entirely upon 
our own resources, and, if defeated, the whole 
army was ,k gone up the spout/' 

I have had many of the most perilous and re- 
sponsible duties of campaign life assigned me and 
have never failed to perform them to the very let- 



390 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

ter, without any blunder or disaster. My loss at 
Jenkins' Ferry was 108 in killed, wounded and 
missing. 

Now, I do not mention these things with the ex- 
pectation that you will embody them in a recom- 
mendation, but simply for the information of an 
old personal friend. 

But, enough of this. Of course success in my 
present undertaking is uncertain, but I think my 
chances are not the worst, and if kissing went by 
merit, instead of favor, I should think them pretty 
good. Help me all you can and I shall be grate- 
ful, and will gladly reciprocate on all occasions. 
Yours truly, 

Thomas H. Benton, Jr., 
Col. 29th Iowa Infantry. 



Provost Marshal's Office, Sixth ] 

Congressional District, >- 

Waterloo, Iowa, Dec. 26, 1864. ) 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 

Ed. Charles City Intelligencer: 
Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of a copy of your paper, of the last issue, 
containing a notice of the death of my dear wife 
and boy, and a reference to the attacks being 
made upon me in this dark hour by some journals 
in my District. I have no personal acquaintance 
with you, but from reputation I have learned to 
regard you as one of the noble minded men in this 
northern portion of the State. And seeing that 
you can well appreciate the feelings of a stricken 
husband and father, I write this hasty note to ten- 
der you my heartfelt thanks for the kind and feel- 
ing allusion you made to me. Although the at- 
tacks made upon my character as a man are false 
and malicious, and annoy me much, yet I shall not 
be cast down; for I know that there is triumph even 
in an honest, true purpose. As to the rectitude of 
my motives, and the faithfulness with which I 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 391 

have devoted my energies to the performance of 
the duties of my office, no honest, upright man 
can question. I say thus much for I know my 
thoughts and my labors. 

The trouble has grown out, partially, of a 
change of my head-quarters, ordered by the Pro- 
vost Marshal General. This is the sum of my 
offence to Messrs. Gue of the "Iowa Northwest" 
and Ballou of the "Hamilton Freeman." But for 
Peter Melinda and the "Cedar Palls Gazette," his 
echo, it is a favorable opportunity to harass me 
and effect my overthrow of position. At the time 
I was elected to the Legislature in 1860, Mr. Me- 
linda and the "Gazette" did all in their power to 
defeat me; and as he was, originally, anxious to 
secure the position of Provost Marshal of this 
District, he has been doubly soured, and has 
labored incessantly for my removal and his ap- 
pointment. I state the truth when I say that there 
is not to be found in this District a man who is 
dissatisfied with my conduct unless he be a per- 
sonal friend of Mr. Melinda. The last issue of 
the Port Dodge "Northwest" has just been silly 
enough to reveal its object, namely Melinda's ap- 
pointment in my stead. 

As far as the removal of my headquarters is 
concerned, it was an absolute necessity. I had 
advertised twice in Mr. Gue's paper for proposals 
to furnish subsistence and lodgings for my drafted 
men, &c, but could not obtain a bid. I sent my 
special agent to purchase provisions in the streets, 
hired a woman to cook them, and actually had to 
lodge a greater portion of the men in a barn! Had 
it been winter certainly they would have suffered. 
The recruits called to Port Dodge last winter did 
suffer, and the Department only made timely pro- 
vision to avoid it in the future. The Headquar- 
ters were changed upon the recommendation of 
the surgeon of the Board, myself and Maj. Thom- 
as Duncan, A. A. Provost Marshal General at 
Davenport. It certainly has been greatly to the 



392 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

detriment of the service, having the headquarters 
so far from railroad and telegraph communication. 
It is no new thing to have the headquarters in the 
east part of the District. It is so in every other 
District in the State. It is not for me to say 
whether I am popular or not in my own District, 
but I would say that if I am so unpopular as they 
allege, the people of the District with whom I 
have dealt have a strange way of showing it. I 
have yet to see the man come into my office and 
make complaint of me. 

I well remember how the same clique at Cedar 
Falls attempted to belittle you in the manly course 
you took in the Legislature in regard to our mu- 
nificent Agricultural grant obtained for us by our 
old Vermont friend, Senator Morrill. Rather than 
see the people starve you dared to take a crumb 
from Mr. Melinda's mouth, and you know the con- 
sequences. Whether this same power shall suc- 
ceed in all things, legitimate or illegitimate, is 
yet to be seen. 

Please again accept my thanks for your kind 
words and best wishes for your personal welfare; 
and if you are a husband and a father, remember 
me kindly to your partner; and I pray that such a 
bitter cup as I have been necessitated to drink 
may never be pressed to your lips. I am very 
respectfully, Your obedient servant, 

Warner H. Curtis, 
Provost Marshal. 



Office of Provost Marshal, j 
Waterloo, Jan. 11, 1865. j 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 
Charles City, Iowa: 
My Dear Sir: Excuse my delay in writing. We 
are overburdened with business, having to work 
day and night. I am sorry to learn that Judge 
Hubbard declines accepting Gubernatorial honors 
secured by his friends, for two reasons: 1st, I 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 393 

think the Judge would make the strongest and 
most available candidate the North could possibly 
present for that office. 2d. I just regard Stone as 
a putty Governor, and I don't see how I possibly 
could support him for re-election. I have a per- 
fect abhorrence of the Des Moines clique. They 
can get no assistance from me until they cease to 
think that they constitute the State of Iowa. As 
regards Col. Allison, I think very highly of him, 
and, all things being equal, I could cheerfully 
support him. Of course, we cannot have both 
Governor and Senator; but, while we might secure 
the Senator, it does not seem necessary that Stone 
should be Governor. It would be necessary to 
unite with some portion of the southern part of 
the State and support their candidate for some 
State office, on condition that we have their sup- 
port for either Governor or Senator. I am bound 
that the North shall have one or the other. It is 
only just, and if mild words cannot persuade, let 
stones (not Stone) be used. I will here say to you 
that in the coming State contest the North should 
present the very best man, I care not from what 
District, and he will not only be acceptable to me, 
but I will struggle to the last to secure his election. 
The copy of your excellent paper sent me has 
again put me under obligations to you. I think 
the time will come when I can substantially re- 
ward you. 

Very truly your obedient servant, 

Warner H. Curtis. 



Iowa City, Iowa, March 27, 1865. 

My Dear Sir: I trust you will consider the sub- 
stance of this letter sufficient excuse for troubling 
you with it. My name is being used by some of 
my friends in connection with the vacant U. S. 
Senatorship, with my consent, and I am naturally 
anxious that their efforts should be successful. I 
am also anxious to know what are the prospects 



394 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

of success. It has for some time been understood 
that the Union men of your part of the State de- 
sire that their wishes shall be potential in the 
Senatorial question, and I think it has been con- 
ceded to a considerable extent elsewhere that 
their wishes should have a great influence in its 
determination. I have had reason to suppose that 
it would be satisfactory to some of your people to 
select a man outside your own geographical limits ; 
that they cared more for the privilege of making 
the selection than for the locality of the one 
selected, and I had reason to believe that others of 
them would insist not only on the person but on 
his locality. 

The resignation of Senator Harlan has precipi- 
tated the question, and I learn that my supposition 
and belief are both correct. Some of your people 
prefer Mr. Allison, basing their preferences main- 
ly upon his locality. Others prefer some one else, 
although he may be outside their particular local- 
ity. 

Now, I do not wish to argue the propriety of 
these preferences. My object in writing you is to 
learn the position you will occupy, if you have as 
yet determined what it shall be. You know me 
pretty thoroughly; you know my past political 
action; you know all the ins and outs of this local 
question; and it would be, I think, useless even if 
it were proper for me to enter upon an argument 
upon the subject. I know I have not the right to 
demand your declaration of opinion, and I have 
had some hesitation as to the propriety of even 
requesting it; but my anxiety to know where you 
stand has immpelled me to make the request, and 
trust to your generosity to excuse the imperti- 
nence, if you do not see fit to gratify me. It is 
but frank and fair to say that I should feel deeply 
gratified to receive your support, because I know 
your influence is powerful, but more because of 
the gratification I should feel at knowing you 
thought me worthy the high position named. But 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 395 

I say with equal frankness that if your sense of 
public duty compels you, or induces you, to prefer 
another to myself, that fact shall make no change 
in my regard for you. 

There is no one of my rights that I insist upon 
more strenuously than that of indulging my pref- 
erences in cases of this kind, and I trust I am as 
ready to yield the same right to others as fully as 
I claim it for myself. 

I do not know how the Senatorial question will 
result. From my stand-point it looks very favor- 
able to me; but of course I hear mostly from 
friends. Whatever may be the result, I trust 
those who honor me with their support will never 
have cause to regret it. 

Very truly yours, 

Samuel J. Kirkwood. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



Office of Supt. of Public Instruction, 
Des Moines, Iowa, June 29, 1865. 

Friend Hildreth: Enclosed please find Auditor's 
warrant for amount of your bill for printing. 
Your County Treasurer will undoubtedly cash it 
for its face as it is at par here. I have never 
charged any thing yet for collecting claims for my 
constituents, and I certainly will not commence 
with an old friend who has befriended me so much 
as you have. 

Major Carter, Paymaster, called yesterday on 
his return from Sioux City, where he has been to 
pay off western troops. He was President of the 
Bank at McGregor. Andy Felt has been pitching 
into the Republican ticket, and gives me 4 'particu- 
lar fits.'' It is a free country, and I hope he will 
free his mind and feel better. 

As ever yours, 

O. Faville. 



396 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Detroit, Michigan, Aug., 21, 1865. 

Dear Friend: My son Charles is now in Gales- 
burg, 111., and in a week or ten days he will visit 
my brother Carlos, at West Union, Iowa. After 
spending a little time with him it is his intention 
to "shoulder his knapsack and gun," and foot it 
out to Charles City. The name is attractive to 
him! 

Gen. Grant's visit and the loss of the Pewabic 
and Traveller, during the last week, has given us 
much to think oL I had the pleasure of meeting 
the Lieut. General at Senator Chandler's and 
spending an evening with him. He told me he 
remembered me and the little white house on the 
corner of Russell and Jefferson Avenue very well. 
You know he lived in my house two years. I pre- 
dict for him a spacious White House to reside in at 
the head of Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, 
D. C, ere long! At present I see he is enjoying 
himself with his family at Galena, his old home, 
in a house handsomely furnished and presented 
by his old neighbors. This is as it should be. 
He deserves well of his countrymen. Let me 
hear from you soon, and believe me 

Ever your friend, 
Hon. A. B. P. Hildreth. W. A. Bacon. 



Assessor's Office, Third District, [ 
Dubuque, Sept. 17, 1866. j 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 

Dear Sir: You are aware, ere this, that I am a 
supporter of Reuben Noble for Congress. I do 
not, for old friendship sake, wish you to come 
down on me, in your paper, too hard. I have the 
Times and Herald against me, as you see. I don't 
care for either of them. Dubuque would like to 
have beaten me, and has been unfriendly since I 
first got the office. They would rather have a 
Dubuque "copperhead" than me. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 397 

In regard to the loan you speak of, I would like 
an extension of one year longer. By that means I 
may be able to save a home in Charles City. I 
have a strong feeling for the citizens of your town 
and county, which differences in political opinions 
cannot change. When my motives are fully un- 
derstood I may not be censured for the position I 
now occupy. 

Very respectfully your friend, 

L. L. Huntley. 
Assessor Internal Revenue 3d Dist. , la. 



Des Moines, Iowa, March 1, 1867. 

Hon. A. B. P. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: My husband has resigned his office of 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, owing 
to ill health, and is now in New York to be doc- 
tored. He wishes me to return grateful acknowl- 
edgements and thanks for the many favors he has 
received from you. We read your paper with 
great interest, and have shown it with pride as 
coming from the press of Northern Iowa, which 
we still claim as our home, and to which we ex- 
pect to return, if Mr. Faville gains a respit from 
his disease, (the asthma,) of which he now has 
hope. He resigned with great reluctance, but you 
know he is too honest to retain an office he cannot 
fill. He expects to take a trip south, but now he 
is using the Turkish Baths, and finds them bene- 
ficial. He is boarding at Crook's hotel, in New 
York. Mr. Crook says he once went to school to 
you in New Hampshire. 

We send much love to Mrs. Hildreth. whose 
kind and frequent hospitality we remember with 
gratitude. I wish she would send me her photo- 
graph. Yours respectfully, 

Maria M. Faville. 



398 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Fort Atkinson, Iowa. April 10, 1867. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of numerous letters 
relative to the Governorship. As yet I have 
avoided taking any decided grounds for any can- 
didate. I have thought that some of the aspirants 
have shown little discretion in having their numer- 
ous virtues constantly heralded from their local 
press. I have no candidate, nor have the promi- 
nent Republicans of this county as yet expressed 
a preference for any one, the newspapers to the 
contrary notwithstanding. I, in common with oth- 
ers in this county, believe it desirable that these 
northern counties should act together if possible, 
but to do so we should have some understanding. 

If we are to have the Governor we cannot ex- 
pect to have the U. S. Senator also; and then, if 
we find the Governor conceded to us are we bound 
to take the man who has been selected for us? It 
seems to me that this movement on the part of the 
McGregor News, (a paper under control of Col. 
Merrill,) assumes altogether too much in repre- 
senting the North as being unanimously in favor 
of Merrill for Governor. I do know that this 
county has expressed no such preference. Still, 
it may do so, but that will depend upon circum- 
stances. I write you because I have known you a 
long time and know you never go off "half- 
cocked," and have some reason always for what 
you do say. I wish you would give me your views 
upon the situation, and to them I should feel 
bound to pay some respect. 

I am truly yours, 

Jedediah Brown. 



Fort Atkinson, Iowa, April 14, 1867. 
Dear Sir: Your letter of the 11th inst. is re- 
ceived. It is refreshing to receive a letter treat- 
ing of political men and measures in your candid 
and frank manner. Its perusal has afforded me 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 399 

much pleasure. I most cordially agree with you 
that we have, too often in the past received unkind 
treatment from State Conventions; yet, has this 
not in part been owing to ourselves? If we could 
unite we could make ourselves felt. Can we do 
that on Col. Merrill? I doubt it. I am almost 
certain that this county will not be for him. The 
fact is, the man is over estimated. I know him 
well. I am in receipt of several letters from him 
asking my support under the plea of ill health. I 
have thus far given him no encouragement. He 
has very little positive strength, and the parties 
engineering for him will, I fear, run him under 
before the Convention is held. 

As to J. B. Grinnell: I received a letter from 
him last week in which he hoped he might be the 
second choice of this county. He is more likely 
to be the first choice. I hope to learn this week 
what was concluded upon at the meeting of the 
G. A. R held on the 10th inst. I know that Col. 
Merrill was strongly represented there, and if it 
was not arranged there to go for him I consider 
him entirely out of the question. 

As to Allison: I have suspected him a long 
time. I was in Washington when the Dubuque 
papers came out for Merrill for Governor. Alli- 
son, when I charged him with having something 
to do with the movement, denied all knowledge of 
the matter. Merrill writes me that Allison has 
promised to do all he can to nominate him and 
that Harlan has done the same. 

Allison expressed to me the opinion that Merrill 
was not the man for the place, so you see I was 
slightly misled, had I only believed him! The 
fact is that Allison is ambitious, and some one has 
told him that, with the money he has made, he 
can win any position he may desire in the State; 
and he is under that delusion. I found that what 
Grimes told him to do he did. They were both 
bitter on Grinnell, and on Wilson. I can see it all 
now, with your letter- to explain. 



400 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Merrill's friends have little tact to make any 
trade, and if they attempt it, it will be headed off. 
As matters now stand I am of the opinion that 
this District will unite on some other man than 
Merrill, and I know of no reason why it could not 
on Grinnell. I am opposed to Allison going to 
Washington again either as Representative or in 
any other capacity. He has made himself rich 
and has not secured for his District any thing like 
our proportion of patronage, as every other mem- 
ber has done for his District. So, ' 'good-bye to 
Wm. B." will be my motto. 

I think well of N. C. Deering, but do not know 
enough of his reliability. I wish to go for men 
that I can rely upon, and none others. I shall 
oppose all "bargain and sale" arrangements, and 
do what I can to get good men. Time brings "all 
things even." We will see. Meantime I want you 
to keep me posted, and I will reciprocate. Next 
week, most likely, I shall know how Clayton 
county stands. You must know that Hunt, our 
old State Senator, has aspirations for the Govern- 
orship, and he thinks Merrill has no right to step 
into his shoes. Whether they can keep him quiet 
or not remains to be seen. 

With many thanks for your kind letter, and 
hoping to see more of the same sort, 

I am truly yours, 

Jedediah Brown. 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, Charles City. 



Richmond, Virginia, Jane 18, 1867. 

Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: May I crave your indulgence for a 
few minutes, while I ask a few questions on sub- 
jects which just now interest me somewhat — ques- 
tions which I am sure you will have not the least 
hesitation in answering for me? 

I presume you may have seen in the newspapers 
some notice of a dispute concerning a poem of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 401 

mine, entitled "Rock Me to Sleep." I wrote it in 
1859, and published it the next year. It has been 
repeatedly claimed by different parties, and lately 
by a Mr. Ball of New Jersey, who declared that 
he wrote the veritable poem in 1857, and brings 
forward testimonials to "prove it." However, he 
has been pretty well shown up of late, and is 
probably quite sick of his borrowed plumes. 

Hereby hangs the tale concerning which I wish 
to consult you. A man in Albany, N. Y. , writes 
to the Albany Journal a letter declaring that he 
knew me very well in Bradford, Vt., and that I 
wrote the poem there in 1850, a>ndyou published it 
in the "Orange County Gazette." He seems to 
have known you and all the hands in your office. 
He gives his name as "Major William Huntley." 
Now, who is this? Certainly I never knew any 
man by that name; certainly I never heard or saw 
his name before; and most certainly I never wrote 
any poem with that title for your paper. Can you 
give me any light? The man says he is willing to 
take his oath to these statements, and when I 
assure him that he is mistaken, he coolly repeats 
that "they are true and he can prove them"! 

I am really at a loss to explain the matter, and 
in my perplexity I thought of applying to you. I 
am sure you can affirm that the poem was never 
offered you, nor published in the "Gazette" or 
"Gem," over the name of "Florence Percy" or any 
other. Will you please reply at once, and tell me 
what you may know of this man, and what he can 
possibly mean by his ridiculous persistence? He 
declares that you published the poem under my 
old nom de plume, "Florence Percy," and that he 
afterwards copied it twice in a newspaper that he 
edited. Still, he does not produce a copy. 

The affair annoys me very much, because it dis- 
putes my own published statement and compli- 
cates the whole thing unnecessarily. If you will 
state to me distinctly, with permission that I may 
make it public if necessary, that you did not pub- 

51 



402 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

lish the poem, and never saw it in Bradford, and 
are sure it never appeared in either of those pub- 
lications of yours, it will set the whole matter at 
rest. 

With best wishes I am your old friend and con- 
tributor, "Florence Percy," now 

Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen. 
Address, 

Lock Box 58, Richmond, Va. 



Richmond, Virginia, July 8, 1867. 

Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: I am very much obliged to you for 
your prompt and decisive answer to my note of 
inquiry. I am very glad to hear from you and see 
that you are apparently well and prospering. You 
were very kind to take the trouble of hunting over 
the files of your old paper for me, and the result 
was precisely what I knew it must be; still I am 
glad to have evidence outside of my own senses, 
for this "dispute," and the singular statements 
which it has drawn out, have almost led me to 
doubt them. As a matter of curiosity I will en- 
close a part of the letter of the redoubtable ' 'Ma- 
jor," which I think will astonish you only less 
than it has me. I wrote him at once disputing the 
statement in to to, and assuring him that it was all 
a most utter mistake and quite incomprehensible 
to me. I showed him clearly that the poem was 
never published until 1860, while I was in Italy, 
and that nothing by that title, even, was ever pub- 
lished in your paper while I was acquainted with 
it, or while I contributed to it. He replied, reit- 
erating what he had said, and telling me that ' 'the 
proof was certain and could not be disputed, " that 
the poem was published under my name in your 
paper. The politeness of contradicting me flatly 
about a matter in which I may fairly be supposed 
to have been as much interested and as keenly 
conscious as anybody, is at least questionable, but 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 403 

the man persists, in the most impertinent manner, 
in calling up reminiscences of Bradford and its 
people and circumstances, to prove that he is 
wiser about my affairs than I am. He has evident- 
ly taken pains to get particulars, for he even 
alludes to my having taken tea at your house just 
before I left for Maine. He has the names of all 
your workmen in the office at his tongue's end. 
Still, he blunders in the name of your paper and 
makes several wide hits in his attempts at detail- 
ing the incidents of my personal experience, about 
which he evidently desires to appear quite wise. 
He says he has "published several volumes and 
contributed largely to the newspaper and maga- 
zine literature of the day.'' Modest, certainly! 
But I have never met his name in my reading. 
He says he published the "Valley and Star," at 
Hanover, N. H., in 1852-3, and copied the poem 
into that paper each year, and sent the paper to 
me at Farmington Falls, Maine. I never received 
it nor heard of it before. 

Altogether it is a very queer affair and has been 
very vexatious to me. It was sufficiently annoy- 
ing to me to be paraded before the country as a 
thief and a liar, by a man whom I had never 
wronged or even heard of, and who had nothing to 
win him respect, unless his wealth. Of course I 
expected falsehoods from him and his friends, but 
it was quite humiliating for one, assuming to be 
my friend to come publicly forward and make 
statements so utterly groundless and damaging. 
I wish there were some way in which I could quiet- 
ly find out something concerning him. Possibly 
he may be a mild lunatic, who means no harm, be- 
cause he does not know what he means. 

Again I thank you for your courtesy in so early 
replying to my questions. Would you have any 
objection to my saying publicly that you nave no 
knowledge of this man Huntley, or his statement 
here enclosed, and that you did not publish the 
poem? 



404 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

I hope all has gone well with you and Mrs. Hil- 
dreth. Both of you have always my best wishes. 
I remain respectfully yours, 

Elizabeth Akers Allen. 

P. S. Here is a copy of "Major William Hunt- 
ley's" statements which are a tissue of falsehoods, 
and I doubt not you will so affirm: 

' 'In January, 1850, I was employed at Bradford, 
"and became acquainted with Miss Elizabeth 
"Chase, who is now Mrs. Akers. In the early 
' 'part of February of that year she handed to Mr. 
"Hildreth, editor of the Orange County Gazette, 
"a poem of six verses, entitled 'Rock Me to 
"Sleep,' which was published in the 'Green 
"Mountain Gem,' and also in the 'Gazette' in the 
"month of February, 1850, over the signature of, 
" 'Florence Percy.' During that year they ap- 
' 'peared in several of the papers and caused con- 
k 'siderable comment. Among those who preserved 
"the verses were Rev. Perez Mason, now of Bos- 
"ton; Hon. Levi B. Vilas; Hon. A. McCragin, of 
"Lebanon, N. H. ; Rev. Joseph Courier, D. D., of 
' 'Newbury, Vt. ; and Judge Blaisdell, of Hanover, 
' 'N. H. ; all of whom have a copy of the publica- 
' 'tion in which they appeared of the above date. 
"Whether they were original with her I know not, 
' 'but I do know they were published in 1850, under 
"her nom de plume. I have not seen her since 
"1850, but have heard of her through others." 

[The author of the above false statements is un- 
doubtedly one "Bill Silloway," who was at one 
time in Mr. Hildreth's employ, and was discharged 
by him for dishonesty and meanness.] 



Richmond, Va., Nov. 1, 1867. 

My Dear Mr. Hildreth: I should not have troub- 
led you with another letter but that your letter 
gave me a bright thought. You had a boy whom 
you took into the office as an imp just before I left 
Bradford— a sly, sideways sort of fellow, who 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 405 

seemed to have a great amount of uncanny and 
unpleasant craftiness; a sort of underground way 
of looking at one. I believe his name was Sillo- 
way. It was "William," too, I think. It strikes 
me that this is the "Major Huntley," since you 
suggest that he does not give his real name. 

After I went to Maine a few letters passed be- 
tween us, and I also had letters from your fore- 
man, Mr, Wheelock, who at one time told me that 
you had discharged Silloway for theft. In look- 
ing over "Major Huntley's" performances I find 
that he mentions every person in your office ex- 
cepting this Silloway, and he must have been 
there or he could not have known so many trivial 
circumstances. The more I think of it the surer I 
am that he is the person, although I am still in the 
dark as to his motives. The fellow's impudence 
annoyed me so much that I thought I would look 
him up. I think I shall not hear from him again. 
I spoke to him pretty plainly in the last letter I 
sent him. There is no punishment for such a 
creature but a horse-whipping, and I am not right- 
ly situated for that. 

I am glad to hear so pleasant tidings of you and 
Mrs. Hildreth. You were always courteous to me, 
and I became attached to your wife while she was 
ill and I went to take care of her awhile. I be- 
lieve there was a little child of yours. I hope so. 

I have resided here in Richmond for two years. 
Previously I lived in Washington. I have known 
much sorrow since I saw you, but I suppose I am 
much the same, for I never had any youth. I hope 
I am thankful for my pleasant home here, where I 
find life very enjoyable. 

Perhaps you have noticed that Mr. Ball has just 
published, (paying for it as an advertisement, it is 
said,) seven columns in the N. Y. Tribune, in de- 
fence of his claim to the authorship of my poem. 
Is not the man's effrontery amazing? 

I hope you are all well and prosperous in all 
things. I remain very truly, 

Elizabeth Akers Allen. 



406 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Note. — Elizabeth Chase was born at Farmington, Maine. At 
the early age of fifteen years she began to write poems for the 
press under the wow de plume of "Florence, Percy," and for 
many years contributed regularly to Mr. Hildreth's literary 
publications. During these early years she lived across th > 
street, directly opposite the home of Mr. Hildreth, in Bradford, 
Vt. Subsequently she married Mr. Akers, a noted artist of 
Philadelphia, and for a time they resided in Italy. It was while 
living in that land of Ariosto, that Mrs. Akers, wrote the cele- 
brated poem, "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother," the authorship of 
which has been claimed by several frauds and imposters. Mr. 
Akers died in 1861, and his talented wife afterwards married 
Mr. Allen of Washington City. For several years their home 
was in Richmond, Va,, but they are now living in New York 
City, where Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen is still engaged in licer- 
ary work. Her writings are found in our school books and in 
many of the popular literary journals and magazines of the day. 
She is described as a modest, quiet, unassuming lady, but of 
recognized talent as a poetess, among the literati of this country. 
Mr. Hildreth is certainly entitled to credit for the aid and en- 
couragement he gave to "Florence Percy," in her youthful 
days, and starting her on the road to fame. — Ed. 



' Montpelier, Vt.. Dec. 10, 1867. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, Esq. : 

My Dear Friend: It is a long time since I have 
seen you, or even heard from yon, only, as they 
say, "by-the-by." I often think of the very many 
pleasant interviews we used to have in Bradford, 
and of those happy Wednesday evenings we used 
to spend in "Champion Lodge I. O. of O. F. ;" a 
lodge you did so much for, and which, through 
your influence received so many valuable dona- 
tions, viz.: that beautiful Bible, and that clock 
and carpet which we all so much admired and en- 
joyed. 

We visited Bradford last summer, and of course 
found many changes. Butler and Nelson are still 
there. They were both your friends and mine. 
Nor were these all. You had many and good ones; 
among whom was John B. Woodard, whose son 
t 'Jimmie"has gone to Chicago to gej rich, in com- 
pany with Keith Brothers; Milton Hovey, who has 
gone to Independence, Iowa; also two of his broth- 
ers; and C. C. P. Baldwin, our ex-U. S. Marshal; 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 407 

all of whom are located at or near Jessup, Iowa. 
I often think of your kindness to me, not only in 
sickness but in health, and especially the neigh- 
borly kindness and sympathy you manifested in 
our first great trouble, the death of our little 
Georgie. I hope you realize our gratitude to 
you and Mrs. Hildreth for all those tokens of 
affection and regard. 

When in Bradford we visited the cemetery; and 
as we passed along those avenues of the dead, my 
eyes rested on that pure white marble, and read 
the name, "Olive," I thought of the many trials 
and afflictions you had passed through during the 
years you had lived in Bradford. But there were 
rainbows and sunshine also in those days; yes, and 
I look back, as no doubt you do, on many pleasant 
experiences that we had then. 

Mr. Hildreth — no, not Mr. but brother, — I hope 
you will remember me in some of your leisure 
hours, and write me a good long letter. I want to 
see a letter signed by that familiar name, "A. B. P. 
Hildreth." 

You have a brother living here, Albert, I think, 
who was an officer in the late war. I am not much 
acquainted with him yet. His wife is a very intel- 
ligent, smart woman, I think; also her younger 
sister, whom I know very well. When in Brad- 
ford I saw your brotner Daniel. His health is not 
the best, although he is looking pretty well. 

I hope you will visit Vermont the coming sum- 
mer, and be sure to give us a call. 

Please remember me and Mrs. Clark kindly to 
Mrs. Hildreth, and believe me cordially 

Your friend and ' 'brother.' ' 

James D. Clark. 



Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 30, 1867. 

Dear Friend: Please accept the thanks of the 
blind ex-editor and his wife for your kind letter, 
and also for the enclosed five dollars. Mr. Dixon's 



408 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

health is very poor, and I sometimes fear he will 
not live till spring. If he can but get through 
this winter, and is well enough to dictate, and 
financially able to publish his book this winter, 
and be ready for us to start out in March or April 
and sell it, I believe he will get well and we could 
get money enough to live on. Just now our future 
is very dark! 

Again thanking you for your kindness, 

I am respectfully your friend, 

Mrs. J. M. Dixon. 



Detroit, Mich., May 13, 1868. 

Dear Friend: I have been thinking about you 
for a long time, and wondering why you do not 
write. The speech of Senator Grimes of your 
State has brought you again to the surface, and T 
am resolved to write you a few lines this morning 
to see if I can "draw your fire." By-the-by, what 
ails Grimes? I did not suppose you had a man in 
Iowa who could in any manner endorse Andy 
Johnson. In Detroit the Republicans feel that they 
are again betrayed, and that the impeachment of 
A. J. is lost; but for me, I cannot believe that a 
great party, having the power, will be guilty of 
so great folly as to justify ^he wicked acts of a 
drunken traitor, and thereby bring down upon 
them their own destruction. » 

I visited Vermont last summer, staid a month, 
and had a most enjoyable visit. I did not, how- 
ever, see your father nor mine; but the hills they 
once trod, and from which they ascended, remain 
as green and beautiful as ever. Every one was 
glad to see me and gave me their best, — spruce 
gum, caraway seed and maple sugar! I found 
Nicholas Gilman a bitter "copperhead." Colonel 
Dickey has got over his disloyalty, and now hopes 
that Andy Johnson's head will soon be off! 

My health is good, and business is usual. Char- 
lie is in the coal business; Kate is at home now. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 409 

but spent the summer with friends in Illinois. 
Mrs. Bacon is so-so; growing old with the rest of 
us; but she remembers you and your lady with 
pleasure. She often speaks of you as the model 
gentleman, "the ladies' friend." I hope you are 
prosperous and happy. Let us hear from you 
soon. 

I hope you will be able to congratulate the coun- 
try on the impeachment and deposition of the 
meanest President this country ever had, not ex- 
cepting John Tyler. 

Truly your friend, 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth. W. A. Bacon. 



Dubuque, Iowa, June 2, 1869. 

My Dear Friend Hildreth: On my way from Chi- 
cago to Dubuque, en route home, on Saturday last, 
I bought a Dubuque "Times" and read your arti- 
cle, copied from your paper. It is very tame and 
unexpressive in me to say "I thank you." That is 
formal and cold. In this case I can only say, how- 
ever, I do most heartily thank you for your very 
complimentary notice. So long as I live, I will 
appreciate, remember and try to reciprocate. My 
ambition is satisfied when I am recognized by you 
and the leaders of our party, of your character 
and standing, as one of the working representative 
men of the party. If in the use of my name our 
friends outside of this District are disabused of the 
idea that we have but one man "up north" here, I 
am satisfied. I have this day written to our Sena- 
tor on the question of the public printing, and will 
see that your interests are forwarded, and if pos- 
sible your rights to it secured. I shall see you, I 
hope, at the Convention. 

Yours very truly, 

D. N. Cooley. 



52 



410 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Detroit, March 8, 1871. 

Mr. Hildreth, 

Dear Friend: I have been wanting to hear from 
yon for a long time. Please write me on receipt 
of this. I am still engaged in teaching and am 
enjoying life pretty well. My children are grown 
and live with me at home. Mrs. Bacon has grown 
old with me, and like old Mrs. ''John Anderson, 
my Jo, John," proposes to sleep with me at the 
foot of the hill of life. We both feel the infirmities 
of age. You know how we live. We have income 
enough to support us, aside from our school; so 
you see we are well enough off financially. 

I do wish you and Mrs. Hildreth would come out 
this summer and make us a visit. Last summer 
Mrs. Bacon and Kate spent three months in Bos- 
ton and vicinity, and the year before I was all 
through New England, visiting friends. I was 
two weeks in Chelsea, Vt., and saw many who in- 
quired after you. I have a sister there. Hacket 
Scribner lives in the village; Nicholas Gilman, 
David Sleeper, Perley Jones, Tom Bacon and oth- 
ers of our old friends are there. Col. Dickey left 
Bradford and now lives in St. Johnsbury. 

Mrs. Bacon often speaks of you as one of her 
friends. She thinks you are a friend and advocate 
of woman. 

Enclosed I send you an extract of a speech de- 
livered by the chairman of our Board of Education 
recently, in which he alludes to his old teacher, as 
well as your old teacher, in language which you, 
at least, will understand. 

Your friend, 

W. A. Bacon. 



Washington, D. C, Feb. 7, 1872. 

My Dear Sir: I am grateful for your manifesta- 
tion of friendship for me. The "Register" was 
indebted to B. F. Allen 125,000.00 on purchase 
price of the establishment. It was understood at 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 411 

Des Moines that Mr. Allison advanced $5,000.00 
which had matured on the debt, at about the date 
of its first onslaught on me. Perhaps this was a 
loan to be repaid out of the profits of public print- 
ing. The management of the campaign, on their 
part, was, as I think, most disreputable. The 
fruit thus gathered ought to turn to ashes! But 
we must acquiesce and wait, and work, for a re- 
demption, which will certainly come sooner or 
later. Yours truly, 

James Harlan 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth, 

Charles City, Iowa. 



Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1873. 

Mr. and Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Friends: Your kind letter of the 25th ult. 
came duly to hand. We were very glad to hear 
from you and learn of your safe arrival at home. 
I had felt a little anxious for you, as there have 
been so many terrible and fatal accidents on rail- 
roads and steamboats this fall and winter. You 
have, indeed, cause of gratitude to our dear Hea- 
venly Father for His kind protection during your 
various journeyings. May He thus guide and pro- 
tect us all in our journeys of life, and then may 
we meet "beyond the river," in the mansions of 
the blest. 

But the question that interests us is: Shall we 
know each other there? I think we shall. That 
question was well answered by the pastor who was 
asked the question by his wife, when he replied: 
• 'Do you suppose we shall be bigger fools there 
than we are here?" I think that answer sets the 
question at rest, for assuredly we shall know more 
there than here. 

We are all in usual health, and brother George 
and family are well and wish to be remembered to 
you. Eddie is at school. He requests me to send 
many thanks for his New Year's gift. He was de- 



412 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

lighted to have you notice him so much as to think 
of him in your far-off home. I wish you could 
have stopped with us longer. Your visit was too 
short, and we can only comfort ourselves with the 
hope that you will come again and stay longer. 

Mr. McKinney enjoyed your visit very much. 
He joins with Eddie and myself in sending lo^e 
and kind remembrances to you both. 
We remain affectionately, 

Your true friends, 
James McKinney, 
Lucia B. McKinney, 
Edmund James Gates McKinney. 



Chicago, III., Nov. 18, 1878. 

Mr. A. B. F. Hildreth. 

Much Esteemed Friend: I owe you an apology 
for not sooner answering your welcome letter; but 
when I tell you that I was just ready to start for 
the East, when the letter came, on a visit to my 
friends in Vermont, I know you will pardon the 
delay. 

I have four sisters living in Chelsea, and found 
them all enjoying good health except Mrs. God- 
frey, who has been in poor health several years. 
I found but few familiar faces. Those I knew in 
boyhood had nearly all passed away or had gone 
to other localities. Still, my visit was one of the 
best of my life. I was in Boston four days. From 
there I went to Lawrence, Mass. , and through the 
politeness of the Superintendent and acquaintance 
of my friends, I was shown through the Pacific 
cotton mills, said to be the largest in the world. 
They have 5,500 employes. In one room there 
were 1,600 looms; in another room 800 looms, all 
in rapid motion. Some of the spindles were mak- 
ing 600 revolutions per minute. You see this is a 
somewhat different way of making cloth from that 
practised when you and I were boys. 

I must say I was very glad to receive your kind 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 413 

letter. I know of your location and prosperity, 
and had I known fifteen years ago, when I was 
within four miles of you, that you were there, I 
certainly should have called on you, and probably 
might have located there. 

For the last twelve years I have been cashier in 
one of the largest steam bakeries in this city. My 
engagement closed with them at the time I went 
East. I returned on Saturday and you are the 
first one I communicate with. 

I should be happy to visit you and view the 
beautiful country that surrounds you. It was 
handsome when I was there, and I can realize that 
fifteen years have made a wonderful improvement. 

Whenever you visit Chicago don't fail to call and 
see me and make my house your home. 

Believe me your friend, 

196 South Clark St., Dudley Little. 

Chicago. 

Office of Daily and Weekly Recorder, | 
Janesville, Wisconsin, April 4, 1879. | 

Friend Hildreth: Your statement of your "stew- 
ardship" is at hand, and I am well satisfied with 
what you have done. Believe me, I shall ever 
feel grateful for your services and hope that I 
may be able at some future time to remunerate 
you. I always appreciate your letters and cannot 
thank you too much for what you have done. You 
have befriended me more, I fear, than I shall ever 
have the opportunity to repay. To you more than 
any one else am I indebted for the exceedingly 
good bargain made with the contractors who are 
building the hotel for my father. What you have 
said to me I have accepted as coming from a 
friend. Of course, to hear of those matters sorely 
pains me, yet it is necessary for me to know of 
them so that I can act intelligently. As a son I 
cannot cease to love my parents. Your letter 
came just in time, informing me of certain matters 



414 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

which I have been trying to find out for some time 
past. I have never intimated, in any way, from 
what source I obtain my information, nor shall I 
do so. It seems to me that if I could only see you 
and have a good talk it would do me good, but 
that is out of the question now. 

I shall be pleased to hear from you often. Give 
my best regards to Mrs. Hildreth. I have good 
reason to remember you both as among my best 
friends, and the kind advice you have given me in 
times gone by has, I trust, not been altogether 
neglected. 

Snow fell here a day or two since and it is rath- 
er chilly this forenoon. Wife and little girl are 
troubled with slight colds, but are otherwise en- 
joying usual health. 

Remember me kindly to Mrs. Hildreth and be- 
lieve me 

Yours truly and fraternally, 

William H. Leonard. 



Newburyport, Mass., Nov. 16, 1880. 

Mr. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: I received your letter of the 1st inst. 
and was very glad to hear from you, and to hear 
of your good success, and hope you may live long 
to enjoy it. I am sorry that you could not have 
your little daughter spared to you, but you have 
the consolation that she has escaped a great many 
trials. 

I have been a widow over twenty years. I have 
one daughter who, I am proud to say, is a fine 
good girl. She graduated at the High and Put- 
nam schools, and then she needed something to 
do. She did not care to teach, and I put a few 
hundred dollars into a fancy goods store, and 
gave her the charge of it. She is still there, and 
we are in comfortable circumstances. If you re- 
member, I had two sisters; they are both widows; 
so we all make one family. We built us a nice 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 415 

house on High street, five years ago, and live 
quite nicely. I was fifty-eight years old last Octo- 
ber, and am what is called a strong, healthy wo- 
man, and have been highly blest in that respect. 
Still, I realize that I am growing old, as I sit writ- 
ing to you with my glasses on. 

You remember my aunt Chamberlin who lived 
in Lowell. She died ten years ago. My cousin 
Harriet Chamberlin, whom you knew, lives in 
Cincinnati. Clara Poor, who was one of Hannah's 
old friends, lives with her daughter just out of 
Boston. 

Now, in regard to Hannah's immediate family. 
They are all gone with the exception of Lydia, 
(Mrs. Bagley,) who lives in Haverhill, Mass. She 
is an invalid, and has lost her husband and three 
children, and has one son living. Mary Smith, 
her sister, is blind. She married a man of prop- 
erty, but somehow he did not leave her much 
when he died. She had a young family to care 
for and, with her blindness, has had a hard time. 
Mrs. Philips, (an older sister,) and her husband 
both died the same year. Mr. P. died at the 
South of yellow fever and his wife died soon after. 
Mrs. Rier has been dead many years, and was a 
great sufferer from dropsy. 

I was very glad that you sent to have Hannah's 
grave fixed. Our yard is sadly neglected. If all 
who have dead there would give a little it could be 
kept in repair. I think when no one is left to 
look after these things it is a good plan to fund a 
little money for that especial purpose. 

I have a passion for visiting grave-yards, my 
friends say; at any rate, I feel as if I were visiting 
friends when I go, so I always visit them. When 
Mrs. Clark, from Lowell, was here she spoke of 
you, and I told her of Hannah's grave, but it had 
escaped my mind until your letter arrived, which 
I was very glad to receive. 

Remember me kindly to Mrs. Hildreth. When- 
ever you come East I shall be very glad to see you 



416 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

both. I have Hannah's grave done and it looks 
very well, and I am so glad, I always feel badly to 
see a grave neglected. I was lately reading of 
her early death, and now it seems so long! I was 
so young myself that I cannot realize it. I can 
bring back her handsome face to my mind as 
though I had seen her recently. I send an en- 
closed scrap which grew on her grave, thinking 
you might like it. I thought as I stood there how 
I wished you could be in my place. I should like 
to hear from you when convenient. Enclosed I 
send the Sexton's bill receipted. 

Wishing you and yours much happiness, I 
remain Truly your friend, 

Mary E. Magowin. 



Charles City, Iowa, May 17, 1880. 

To A. R. Spriggs, Esq., 

President Library Association: 
Dear Sir: The undersigned hereby donates the 
following Books and Publications to the Charles 
City Reading Room and Library Association for 
the purpose of aiding said Association in estab- 
lishing a permanent Public Library. 

A. B. F. Hildreth, donor. 

LIST OF BOOKS. LIST OF BOOKS. 

Webster's Works, 6 vols., Paris by Sun and Gas Light, 

Russian Empire, Beyond the Mississippi, 

China and India, Meta's Faith, 

England, Scotland & Ireland, Hard Cash, 

Amos Lawrence, The Man Who Laughs, . 

Lorenzo Dow. Dick Wilson, 

Sunshine and Shadow in Humanity, 

New York, Pacific R. R. Surveys, 7 vols. 

Reformed Cattle Doctor, Sunday Book, 

Campbell's Agriculture, The Good Time Coming, 

Weak Lungs, While It Was Morning, 

Farrier and Cattle Doctor, Robinson Crusoe, 

A Son of the Soil, Scientific Agriculture, 

Green Mountain Gem, Agricultural Chemistry, 

Bride of Llewellyn, Life of Fremont, 

How He Won Her, Horace Mann's Writings, 

Agriculture Text Book, Annals Scientific Discovery 2 

Egypt — Smith, Opium Habit, 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 



417 



LIST OF BOOKS. 

Uncle Sam's Farm Fence. 
Dadd's Vetrinary Art, 
Wellington and Peel, 
Henry the Eighth, 
Bears of Augustusburg, 
Stonewall Jackson, 
Joseph 2d and his Court, 
Forney's Letters, 
Anecdotes of Birds, &c, 



LIST OF BOOKS. 

Our First Families, 
Four Years in Secessia, 
Southern Outrages, 
Secrets of New York, 
Deep Down, Cornish Mines, 
Turkey and the Turks, 
Sam Houston, 
Alaska, 
Geology of Iowa, 2 vols. 



England and America, 

Charles City, Iowa, Nov. 11, 1881. 
Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Sir: On May 17, 1880, and Oct. 29, 1881, 
the Charles City Library Association received 
from yon the foregoing large number of valuable 
Books as a donation for the purpose of aiding in 
establishing a permanent Free Public Library in 
Charles City. 

Permit me, on behalf of said Association, to 
thank you for this generous contribution, be- 
lieving that, at no distant day, the Library, for 
which this timely aid is given, will form the nucle- 
us for a Free Public Library, that will be the 
pride of the whole people. 

No better plan exists for educating and elevat- 
ing the moral and intellectual tone of the people, 
not even excepting the public schools, than that 
afforded by providing good and free reading matter 
to all. Your contribution shows that you fully 
appreciate the real advantages to be derived 
therefrom. 

Hoping and trusting the time will soon come 
when greater good will be done in enlarging the 
present limited field for Library work, and again 
thanking you for your noble contribution, I re- 
main Yours truly and respectfully, 

Alexander R. Spriggs, 
President of Library Association. 



53 



418 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

Estherville, Iowa, Dec. 19, 1890. 

Dear Mr. Hildreth: Some weeks ago I left my 
home in Brighton, 111., for the purpose of making 
a protracted visit with friends here in Estherville. 
Meanwhile I was contemplating a brief visit with 
Mrs. Hildreth and yourself at Charles City. I did 
not know of Mrs. Hildreth' s declining health, nor 
your sad affliction, until one day last week a 
Charles City paper brought me the account of 
your deep trouble. It reminded me of a sober in- 
cident some years ago, when I received a most 
valued letter from your pen, giving me sympathy 
and condolence upon the death of my dear father. 
Would that I could now, in return, send you some 
words of comfort to assuage your deep sorrow. 
No one can do this who has not experienced a sim- 
ilar bereavement. My heart is filled with the ten- 
derest sympathy for you in this hour of your great 
trial. 

While my home was in Charles City, Mrs. Hil- 
dreth was ever a very dear friend and neighbor of 
mine, in those sweet bright years of my earlier 
life. My memories of her are beautiful indeed. 
The last time I was at your home the day was ex- 
ceedingly pleasant, and we talked of everything of 
interest that had happened since I left there. I 
saw in the hall that handsome pair of elk-horns 
from the Rocky Mountains, sent you as a compli- 
mentary by Major James Jackson of the United 
States Army. After tea, if you remember, we 
went over to Father Knight's and spent the even- 
ing. To me this was a very enjoyable season — 
more so because I had been living so far away in 
a land of strangers. Charles City ever seems like 
a home to me, and I love the very ground there 
for those early memories. I desired once more to 
see Mrs. Hildreth and was greatly shocked by the 
sad news of her death. I wish to offer, in my 
weak way, some sympathetic words to Mr. Hil- 
dreth. I feel it a duty I owe for the love and 
kindness she ever so generously bestowed upon 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 419 

me. In 1858 my husband handed you my first 
poetic production, which you printed in the Charles 
City Intelligencer, in elegant style, and on such 
fine, pretty type. 

Hoping that what I have said will not disturb 
your peace of mind and the quietude you so much 
need, while burdened with sorrow, I subscribe 
myself as ever, 

Truly and sincerely, 

Mrs. G. G. Reiniger. 



Estherville, Iowa, Dec. 27, 1890. 

Hon. A. B. F. Hildreth: 

Dear Friend: Your late letter, so full of grief 
and sadness, is received. I read it with a heart 
touched with the tenderest emotions, and filled 
with kindred feelings. I have felt the same- deep 
grief which you describe. Only a soul that does 
feel can know what another is passing through 
when afflicted as you have been. "One touch of 
nature makes the whole world kindred," is true to 
a certain extent. I never felt before such a near- 
ness to Mr. Hildreth as I have felt since I learned 
of the great depths of sorrow and grief that have 
overwhelmed his happy life — and why? — because 
my life has been broken up in the same manner. 
As friends, we are now better acquainted than 
ever before, even in those past beautiful years. 
We have arrived at the same condition in life and 
know what heart-suffering means. It is a destiny 
over which we have no control. We never created 
one of these circumstances which make us so lone- 
ly. If I gave up to my afflictions I should be most 
miserable. But I cherish an inspiring hope that 
the loving God, in great tenderness and mercy, 
will, in His own good time, pour into my darkened 
pathway some glimpses of the splendor of His 
love. 

Your bereavement, Mr. Hildreth, is hard to 
bear; especially so after so many years of connu- 



420 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

bial bliss. The desolation of a dear, sweet home 
is distressing. But your letter was a comfort for 
me. Sad things are friends of mine, and I read it 
over and over again. Until I could reply, I placed 
it in my Bible, and the first verse that my eye fell 
upon, as I placed your letter in the book, was: 
1 'Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your 
God;" as though an angel stood at the head of the 
chapter. There is no darkness that gathers round 
earth's afflicted ones, without some beams of light 
— some rays of brightness — which may come to 
penetrate it. 

Please accept the enclosed tribute — -just a few 
simple heart-felt emotions — caused by the death of 
Mrs. Hildreth, my dear sweet friend of other 
years. Sincerely and truly, 

Mrs. G. G. Reiniger. 

Note. — See "Tribute" on page 222. 



Boston, Mass., Jan. 10, 1891. 

My Dear Friend Hildreth: Will you please per- 
mit me to extend to you my heart-felt sympathy 
and condolence during these sad days of your be- 
reavement in the death of your dear good wife. I 
knew her to be a noble woman in every sense of 
the word, and I doubt not that, as you said: "If 
ever man loved woman then you loved your dear 
Liveria." Oliver Goldsmith said: "Age, that les- 
sens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of 
living." Strange contradiction in our nature, 
Whence this increased love of life? Some one in 
deep sorrow, like yours, has said: "Go, child of 
sorrow, to the grave, where the gentle form is 
sleeping that wont to be thy companion. Go to 
the turf that flourishes above her, and recall as in 
a dream, past hours of happiness. Muse on every 
fond endearment, every blissful hour, that once 
with her was thy portion, then wake from the en- 
chanting illusion, to know that, mixed with her 
kindred dust, she can return to thee no more." 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 421 

You may pluck from the turf the wild weeds, and 

"Strew with flowers the dismal spot," 

but it will be of no avail. The voice of sorrow 
penetrates not into the grave, but is lost in the 
night- wind which sighs around it. 

"There is a calm for those that weep," 

and within the silent tomb all will rest alike. 
Neither youth nor beauty can stay the hand of 
death. 

"All that's bright must fade." 

We may gaze upon the beautiful scenes which 
the lavish hand of nature has formed around us, 
but it is only above the resting place of the silent 
dead. Please, friend Rildreth, permit me to 
quote for your consolation some words from Wm. 
Leggett, who says : ' 'The pure in heart shall meet 
again;" 

"If yon bright stars, which gem the night, 

Be each a blissful dwelling sphere, 
Where kindred spirits re-unite, 

Whom death hath torn asunder here, — 
How sweet it were at once to die, 

And leave this blighted orb afar, — 
Mixed soul with soul to cleave the sky, 

And soar away from star to star. 

But oh, how dark, how drear, how lone, 

Would seem the brightest world of bliss, 
If, wandering through each radiant one, 

We failed to And the loved of this ! — 
If then no more the ties shall twine, 

That Death's cold hand alone can sever ! 
Ah ! then these stars in mockery shine, 

More hateful as they shine forever. 

It cannot be ; each hope, each fear, 

That lights the eye, or clouds the brow, 
Proclaims there is a happier sphere 

Than this bleak world that holds us now. 
There is a voice that sorrow hears, 

When heaviest weighs life's galling chain ; — 
'Tis Heaven that whispers : "Dry thy tears ; 

The pure in heart shall meet again." 



422 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS TO 

That sweet poet, J. G. Percival, who, not many 
years ago, lived and died at Hazel Green, Wiscon- 
sin, wrote: 

Roses bloom, and then they wither. 

Cheeks are bright, then fade and die, 
Shapes of light are wafted hither, 

Then, like visions, hurry by ; 
Quick as clouds at evening driven, 

O'er the many-colored west, 
Years are bearing us to Heaven, 

Home of happiness and rest. 

R. C. 



Estherville, Iowa, March 17, 1891. 

My Dear Friend, Mr. Hildreth: Enclosed please 
find a little poem to the White Flower which I have 
written about to you. You would be surprised if 
you were to see it, it has been so well preserved 
ever since the summer of 1862. Just think! what 
a very long time ago, I regret that we do not 
know the name of the flower, it was so very large 
and beautiful. I believe that you purchased the 
bulb in Chicago for dear Mrs. Hildreth — she was 
so fond of flowers — and that no flower like it, be- 
fore or since, has been known in Charles City. I 
thank you for writing that / had better 4 'retain the 
flower" myself, for there is a very sweet charm 
connected with it. Mrs. Hildreth brought it to 
me with her own angelic hand. It was a lovely 
circumstance, and that is why I have so carefully 
preserved it. When I was at your happy home 
many years ago I told Mrs. Hildreth that I had 
the flower and would bring it for her to see if I 
ever came again. We had a nice social visit then, 
but that "next time" did not come! May we not 
yet meet — in the realms of endless bliss? 

Some writer has said "happy is the man who 
has that in his soul which acts upon the sorrowing 
and dejected as April acts upon the roots of vio- 
lets. Gifts from the hand are silver and gold, but 
the heart gives that which neither silver nor gold 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 423 

can buy. To be full of goodness, full of cheerful- 
ness, full of sympathy, full of healthful hope, 
causes a man to carry blessings of which he is 
himself as unconscious as a lamp is of its own 
shining. Such a one moves in human life as stars 
move on dark seas to bewildered mariners." I 
hope, Mr. Hildreth, that you will enjoy reading 
my little poem, for it states just what occurred on 
that lovely sunny morning in 1862, and is both 
simple and truthful. Mrs. G. G-. R. 



THE WHITE FLOWER. 



A Memory of Mrs. A. B. F. Hildreth, of Charles City, Iowa. 



BY MRS. G. G. KEINIGER. 

There are some points in social life 
That never leave me, never will ; • 

One bright occurrence with a friend, 
That e'er will make sweet feelings thrill ; 

'Twas when we lived quite near, in view, 

Plainly in sight, — kind neighbors true. 

One busy morning I looked up, — 
Saw a lady's hand within my door, 

Handing to me a flower, like snow, 
With a sweet smile, and nothing more, — 

Then left me, with the blossom white, 

A morning gift, — my sweet delight. 

The circumstance was beautiful ! 
• From a dear friend that morn ; 
I keep the faded blossom still, 
Even in these years — forlorn, 
It leads me back to happy days 
When all was filled with love and praise. 

A blessed type for later years, 
When sorrowing shadows thickly rise, 

To have a gentle, faithful friend, 
Drop in, and sweetly sympathize ; 

I never can forget the hour, 

Nor the kind hand that brought the flower. 

Estherville, Iowa, Feb. 20, 1891. 



424 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 



PART FOURTH. 



LITERARY SELECTIONS. 



From the Lowell Literary Repository. 

THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW. 

"Oh, not in heaven, but upon earth, 

Are signs of change imprest ; 
The coming year will leave its mark 

On human brow and breast." 

The year eighteen hundred and forty has, by 
the tide of time, been swept into the ocean of 
oblivion. The new year, eighteen hundred and 
forty-one, has already commenced its progress 
down the same channel, following the course of 
its predecessor. How lately did we hear the 
salutation of "I wish you a happy new year;" and 
yet, since then, have passed Spring, Summer, Au- 
tumn; all are gone; and now another year has 
begun. The old year is gone — gone forever! To 
those who have improved it aright it will be a 
theme for congratulation and calm reflection; but 
they who have wasted it in prodigality and wick- 
edness must reflect upon it with woe and deep 
regret. 

Nor has time alone passed away. Our dearest' 
relations and friends have also departed. The 
loved ones have gone down to the tomb, and our 
fondest hopes have been blasted. 

'Affections, friendships, confidence,— 
There's not a year hath died 
But all these treasures of the heart 
Lie with it side by side." 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 425 

Yet, the beginning of a new year is usually 
hailed with joy, especially by the young, and we 
are disposed to pardon the hilarity and mirthful - 
ness that we cannot but hope gladden every coun- 
tenance of those between whom and ourself this 
publication forms a pleasant tie, provided they 
will now and then, in the midst of all, pause and 
reflect, scan the past, ask themselves what of the 
future, and form strong and enduring resolves in 
the present. With this we wish them, one and 
all, a very Happy New Year. 



From the Lowell Literary Souvenir. 

THE HUSBAND'S FAREWELL. 



BY A. B. F. HILDKETH. 

Oh, sad is the hour when companions must part, — 
When husband and wife drop the affectionate tear, — 

And fancy alone must recall in the heart 
The whispers of friendship so oft on the ear : 

When lips cannot utter the anguish they'd tell, I 

The heart feels so keenly the husband's farewell. 

Though trials and troubles in absence arise, 
And sink their keen shafts in the breast e'er so deep ; 

Though clouds of deep sorrow o'ershadow the eyes, 
Now lovely and gentle as infancy's sleep ; 

Yet rays of bright hope each dark cloud shall dispel, 

And wake the kind thoughts of the husband's farewell. 

Far, far be the day ere the throb of that heart 
Will cease its emotion for friendship so true ; 

And ere a kind wish from that soul shall depart, 
She bid to this life and its changes adieu ; 

Oh, long may the joy in that bosom still dwell, 

As friendship revives the fond husband's farewell. 

January 1841. 



54 



426 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

From the Lowell Literary Souvenir. 

INCONSTANCY PUNISHED. 



A SKETCH OF HEAL LIFE, BY A. B. F. HILDRETH. 

It was on a beautiful Sabbath morning' in the 
month of May, 18 — -, that Eliza Stanwood and Da- 
vid Montague set out for a ramble across the 
meadows and pastures, and through the groves, to 
inhale the sweetly perfumed morning air, and 
view and admire the beauty and glory of the sur- 
rounding landscape scenery. Lovely indeed was 
the face of nature on that holy and happy morn- 
ing. The fruit trees were in full blossom — every 
wild plant and shrub unfolded its fresh petals to 
the life-giving rays of the morning sun, and the 
whole atmosphere was perfumed with the odorif- 
erousness of the vegetable kingdom. The forests 
were resounding with the merry notes of the 
feathered songsters, apparently poured forth in 
adoration and praise of Him who had so recently 
caused the sun to send forth his cheering rays 
upon the dewy earth, animating and invigorating 
the whole ;face of nature. 

Oh! how will communion with the fields, the air, 
the sky, expand the intellect and ennoble the sen- 
timents of the heart of that individual who has a 
soul alive to the sublimity, and grandeur, and 
beauty of nature's proud scenery. To look upon 
the boundless sky; to breathe the pure air — and 
to see the gems of loveliness and beauty starting 
from the embryo of nature, and not feel our breast 
expand with gratitude toward that Power who is 
all goodness, purity and love, bespeaks a heart 
callous to the nobler attributes of man's nature; 
base, groveling, and scarcely above the beast that 
hails spring with joy only because it brings him 
greener and fresher herbage. To bow with the 
spirit's adoration to the Deity, and not to feel the 
kindling emotions of love and kindness toward the 
creatures that He has constituted like ourselves, 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 427 

is as impossible as it would be for us to create the 
sympathies which govern our spiritual being with- 
in our own hearts. 

For some time the couple wended their way in 
moody silence: now admiring the beauties around 
them, and then letting their eyes fall upon the 
path, which they were following; they would ap- 
pear to be lost in silent communings with their 
own hearts. 

"This is indeed a blessed morning," at length 
uttered David, "but to me it brings feelings of 
commingled joy and sorrow." 

"Nay," said the tender and confiding girl; "un- 
bosom your trials to me, and let us share them 
together." 

"To-morrow," said he, "I must bid you adieu 
and enter on my journey to the West. How can I 
part from you, my dear Eliza, you for whom alone 
I live, and in whose society only do I find enjoy- 
ment? Hundreds of miles must intervene between 
us, and long and weary months must roll away ere 
we shall be permitted to meet and again share 
each othes's joys and sorrows." 

"Do not allow your peace to be marred by 
unprofitable meditations," said Eliza. "Twelve 
months will soon pass away. You will then re- 
turn, when the earth will again be arrayed in its 
present beauty, and you will claim your affianced 
for your own. Fortune will smile upon you, and 
the blessing of a true and devoted heart will 
attend you." 

"Your language," said David, "only strengthens 
the tie that binds me to you and to this place. 
Say no more, for greater must be the effort to sep- 
arate myself from you. I will indeed return in 
one year from this time, and then shall all our 
anticipations be consummated. Nor shall we be 
wholly deprived of mingling our thoughts and 
feelings during my absence. The silent language 
of the pen shall tell the depth of my love for you, 
and keep you advised of the devotion and sincer- 



428 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

ity of my heart's early love. Place this ring- upon 
your finger as a lasting memento of me, and there 
let it remain until I replace it by another at the 
altar." These remarks sank deeply into the heart 
of Eliza. She could not doubt the sincerity of him 
on whom she bestowed her best affections; still, 
she was not free from gloomy forebodings of the 
future, as she pondered the solemn pledges he had 
made. New scenes and other society might effect 
a change detrimental to the welfare of both. But 
she strove to banish such thoughts from her mind, 
and to repose her whole hope in the honor and 
integrity of her lover. 

After returning from the walk they attended 
divine services for the day, and early on Monday 
morning David Montague took a farewell leave of 
his betrothed, and of his friends and acquaint- 
ances, and soon was beyond the confines of the 
neighborhood where he was bred and where lived 
the girl of his choice. 

David was one of five sons then living, one older 
and three younger than himself. His father was 
a farmer, of a retired neighborhood in Vermont, 
and the sons were all bred to the same occupation. 
The family enjoyed a comfortable livelihood, but 
they possessed few of the luxuries of life. Of the 
five sons David was the more promising, and bid 
fairer to become a man of enterprise and useful- 
ness than either of the others. Now he had ar- 
rived at the age of twenty-one years, and he 
resolved to leave the paternal roof and go forth 
into the world to seek his fortune. 

The fair Eliza was the daughter of a farmer in 
that neighborhood, in alike moderate circumstanc- 
es, but she possessed a mind, heart and soul above 
the average. 

On arriving at the place of his destination David 
wrote to his friends informing them of his happy 
prospects. He also wrote a letter to Eliza couched 
in the strongest terms of fidelity and love. After 
this he ceased to write. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 429 

Weeks and months rolled away, but no tidings 
came from him whose destiny lay so near the 
hearts of friends whom he had left. The most 
gloomy forebodings weighed upon the heart of 
Eliza, yet she did not despair. In the meantime 
death had been busy in the Montague family. 
Two brothers had been called from time to eterni- 
ty in the space of a few months, and the father, as 
well as the remaining members of the family, be- 
gan to feel the necessity of aid and protection 
from the absent one. A letter was addressed to 
him informing him of the afflicting dispensations 
of Providence to them and requesting his immedi- 
ate return. He did not come, nor did they receive 
any intelligence regarding him, Another and an- 
other letter was sent him, but all proved abortive. 
What could it mean? The family were anxious 
for his return for the aid that he might render 
them; and the forlorn Eliza for the consummation 
of her hopes. Speculation was exhausted in en- 
deavors to solve the mystery. 

At length, after months of cruel suspense, the 
anxiously looked-for David made his appearance. 
He had not received the letters sent him and was 
ignorant of the devastation death had made in his 
father's family — so he asserted. All gave him a 
cordial welcome, but none greeted him more af- 
fectionately than did the true-hearted Eliza. Al- 
though cruelly neglected, she had a heart to for- 
give. Had David come to claim his affianced 
bride? The unsuspecting Eliza believed it. 

Arrangements were partially made for David to 
have the homestead and provide for the mainte- 
nance of his aged and bereaved parents. He, 
however, must return to the State of New York, 
and close up his business which he had there left 
in an unsettled condition. 

Alas, how deceitful is the heart of man! What 
was the surprise and mortification of that respect- 
ed family when they learned that their beloved 
son, hitherto so full of hope and promise, was 



430 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

married — married to a poor and obscure widow, 
with a family of four children, the oldest a daugh- 
ter of nearly his own age, while bis wife had seen 
years enough to be his mother! 

Was this the young, intelligent, enterprising 
David Montague? So fact determined, though 
charity would fain have it otherwise. The effect 
these cruel tidings had upon the mind of the de- 
ceived and confiding Eliza language is inadequate 
to describe. That she had failed to marry the 
man of her choice was enough; but that she had 
been deceived by him who had kept her company, 
while he had a wife and four children dependent 
upon him for support, was more than her suscept- 
ible heart could bear. 

Of the reasons for this strange conduct on the 
part of David Montague I am not at liberty to 
speak. If the reader wishes to know why he mar- 
ried as he did, he must allow his imagination to 
answer when considering the arts and designs of a 
wicked woman. 

Notwithstanding these disclosures David came 
to his father's home — he, his wife, and his wife's 
children! After remaining there two years, and 
causing much unhappiness, as well as loss of 
property, to his father and father's family, he 
again departed for the West, with the same family 
that he brought and an addition of two others. 

He is probably living at the present time in 
some part of the western country, as poor and as 
miserable as when he left for the last time his rel- 
atives and early friends among his native hills in 
Vermont. May the sad events of his life serve as 
a warning to all young men who may be situated 
in like circumstances and have like temptations 
to encounter. 

But what of the broken-hearted Eliza? Her 
history is brief. Her affliction gradually took the 
form of disease, and consumption soon claimed 
her for its own. After lingering out a few years 
of suffering and woe, she cheerfully resigned her 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 431 

wearied spirit into the hands of Him who gave it. 
It was her dying request that the ring placed upon 
her finger, accompanied with the words : ' 'There 
let it remain until I replace it by another at the 
altar," should not be removed. It was buried 
with. her. Oh! the undying love of woman. When 
once her affections become fixed, nothing but 
death can sever them from the object of their at- 
tachment. 

According to all human probability, had David 
Montague proved true to the pledge of his first 
love, and married his betrothed Eliza, they both 
would be at this time alive, prosperous and happy. 
But fate would have it otherwise. The one has 
become a miserable vagabond upon the earth — the 
other has gone down to a premature grave. 

The above is not a tale of fiction. The events 
there recorded are mostly familar to the writer, 
and there are not wanting those in Lowell, as well 
as in Vermont, who will recognize the story as one 
of facts. If it has a moral let it be applied. 

Lowell, Mass., Aug. 181^1. 



From the Literary Repository. 

TO ONE IN HEAVEN. 



BY A. B. F. HILDBETH. 

One word from thee, thou starlight of my being, — 

One word — for happy spirits are not dumb, — 
One syllable, while Time's stern hand is freeing 

My heavenward wings, — and let that word be, "Come !' 
Devotion has held up her holy finger, 

Pointing to starry seats where thou art blest ; 
Yet does this heavy mass of anguish linger 

Till thy own voice shall call me to thy rest ! 

One word from thee when lighter hearts are sleeping, 

And I unbind the fetters of the night, 
Looking upon the starry sky, or keeping 

A dumb communion with the vapor's flight ; 
And the damp breezes woo those careless lispers, 

The river waves ! With their ethereal hum 
Wilt thou not blend one of thy sweetest whispers, 

And say to my desponding spirit — "Come"? 



432 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

One word from thee when morning shakes her pinions, 

And scatters freshness from the forest trees ; 
When smiling nature gives to all her minions 

The smile she wears herself — and no one grieves ; 
One word from thee, to mingle with the voices 

Of chirping birds, and bees of rapturous hum, — 
One word in that low accent which rejoices 

My inmost heart, — and let that word be, "Come !" 

The night, the long dark night, has found me waking ; 

Wooing in vain my throbbing brain to sleep ; 
And just as the unwearied spell was breaking, 

And my thoughts launched upon the dreaming deep, 
A gentle murmur in my ear hath broken, 

As if a well-known voice had called me home ; 
And then I knew thy sainted lips had spoken, 

And yet they did not bid my spirit, "Come." 

I am not what thy gentle breast first found me ; 

The alternate tears and smiles are gone ; 
And now one-half the earthly friends around me 

Would rather crush my hopes than cheer me on ! 
The sigh is all that apathy hath left me 

Of feeling's language, and that sigh is dumb 
When I look on the gladness time bereft me, 

Or wait and wait to hear the whisper, "Come !" 
Lowell, Sept. 12, 1841. 



CHANGES AND REVOLUTIONS. 

Through inadvertence we have omitted to state 
that the "Lowell Advertiser" and "Patriot'' have 
changed hands, and that Mr. N. P. Banks, a young 
man of shining talent and great promise, has be- 
come proprietor and editor of the same. The 
names of the papers have been changed for those 
of "Lowell Democrat" and "Middlesex Democrat." 
As evidence of Mr. Banks' abilities we would state 
that the Democrat has already revolutionized the 
state of Maine and elected John Fairfield its Gov- 
ernor. In Vermont there has been a like revolu- 
tion, and the Democrats have carried that State by 
an overwhelming majority. Marcus Morton has 
been elected Governor of Massachusetts — in the 
prospective! And, would you believe it? the in- 
fluence of the "Democrat" is felt in the far West, 
and Indiana has followed in the same train, — so 
powerful is he of the "Democrat." To all this 



AZRO B, F. HILDRETH. 433 

should be added— "The Dutch have taken Hol- 
land!" In honor of all these events our city has 
sounded and resounded with the report of cannon 
from early dawn till close of eve, and "Dracut 
Navy -yard" has seen wakeful times, such as have 
not before been known there since the last New 
Hampshire election; and all by reason of the in- 
fluence of the famous Lowell Democrat. — Literary 
Souvenir, editorial. 



THANKSGIVING. 

What child of New England does not hail with 
joy the return of this religious festival? What 
emotions thrill the heart as he meets at the pater- 
nal home kindred and friends; — as he feels the 
grasp of an aged father's hand; sees the tearful 
eye of a care-worn, tender-hearted mother; and 
hears the innocent prattle of the child of the third 
generation! Here assemble the playmates of his 
early childhood, the companions of his youth, the 
friends of his riper years. He lives over again 
the period of his cradle days and his wayward 
youth. His heart swells at each scene; his eye 
beams at the renewal of the past; and he becomes, 
indeed, a thing of other years! 

Who does not love this festival? It was wise in 
the Pilgrim Fathers to institute it, and wise in 
their sons to cherish it. Let it be perpetuated to 
the end of time; held sacred to the purpose for 
which it was designed; and never be degenerated 
into an impious revel. It serves as a band, which 
no vicissitudes of life can sunder, to bind the wan- 
dering New Englander to his native land. He 
may visit the sunny isles of the South, or explore 
the frozen regions of the North, — he may muse in 
the classic regions of Greece, or wander among 
the ruins of the Seven-hilled Queen; he may bear 
the messages of mercy to the lands of pagan dark- 
ness; or pay homage at the courts of kings; yet, 
when he hails the annual return of this day, 

55 



434 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

' 'his foot is on his native heath, and his name is 
McGregor." Or, he may enter the wilds of the 
West, and there, single-handed, fell the forest and 
make a home in the wilderness, and rear around 
his domestic hearth loves of his own; still, when 
Thanksgiving day comes, his soul pines for the 
kindred and friends he has left behind. 

Not only does this festival bind the New Eng- 
lander to his native land, but it is a source of com- 
fort and consolation when other means may fail. 
He may be a wanderer and friendless; he may feel 
the pinchings of want; even the sirocco blasts of 
slander may wither his soul; but .when Thanks- 
giving comes he lives over the scenes of early life 
and is revived. The precepts of his youth, with 
the hope of again seeing the paternal home, 
awaken new energies and nerve him to the contest 
until he finally triumphs. 

Who can tell that many a wild youth has not 
been saved from ruin by the return of this day; 
when all his early impressions are revived and the 
admonitions of a tender mother have come up in 
living characters before his eyes to warn him from 
the paths of vice! 

We need to observe this day. The benevolent 
hand of God has been upon us. He has healed us 
when sick, consoled us when afflicted, prospered 
us when in adversity. He has surrounded us with 
friends and blessings. He has given us the Book 
of Life and the consolations of the Gospel, with 
the blessed assurance of an immortality beyond 
the grave. Who then would not spend at least 
one day in the year recounting the unnumbered 
blessings he has enjoyed, and return thanksgiving 
and praise to Him who has bestowed them? — Edi- 
tor Literary Souvenir. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 435 



From the Literary Souvenir, 

FRIENDSHIP. 



BY A. B. F. HILDBETH. 

The rose will droop when wintry blasts prevail, 
And perish, stricken by the chilling gale ; 

But on that gale, though lost its summer bloom, 
Is borne on balmy wings its soft perfume. 

So friendship, sacred bond, one radiant gleam 
That cheers our sojourn on this earthly frame, 

When reckless hands dissolve its flowery chain, 
Too often never may revive again. 

Perhaps the memory of the days gone by 

In some fond breast may wake an anxious sigh ; 

The wish, that gentle touch had grasped the tie, 
That linked two bosoms in firm amity. 

While pride, that soul of man from angels sprung, 
Which recreant those from heavenly splendors flung, 

Unbending spirit, teaches to disdain 
Submission to the one who breaks the chain. 

The dawn of youth, the hope of better days, 
May fire the soul and tune the poet's lays ; 

Faded and gone — what pleasure can remain 
To cheer his passage through this world of pain? 

Youth's first affections vanish and decay ; 

Life's brightest dreams on fleeting pinions stray ; 
And thou, fond man ! where is thy joyous hour? [flower ! 

Lone 'mid thy visioned bliss thou stand'st a blighted 



From the Literary Souvenir. 

LITERARY PURSUITS. 

The life of the most successful writer has rarely 
been other than that of toil and privation; and 
here we cannot but notice a singularly absurd 
popular fancy, that genius and industry are incom- 
patible. The one is inherent in the other. A 
mind so constituted has a restlessness in its pow- 
ers which causes activity. Take our most eminent 
writers, and how much actual labor must have 
been bestowed on their glorious offerings of their 
country and their fame! 



436 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

What a godlike thing is fame! Think what it is 
to be the solace of a thousand lonely hours — to 
cheer the weary hours of sickness — to fling a 
charm even around nature. How many are there 
to whom, in long after years, your name will come, 
like a note of music, who will love and honor you 
because you have awakened within them thoughts 
and feelings which stir the loftiest dreams and the 
sweetest pulses of their nature. 

True, the poet's life is one of want and suffer- 
ing, too often, and even mortification — a mortifica- 
tion too that comes forcibly home — but far be it 
from us to say that it has not its own exceeding 
great reward. It may be late in coming, but the 
claim on universal sympathy is at last allowed. 
The future, glorious and calm, brightens over the 
grave; and, for the present, the golden world of 
imagination is around it. Not an emotion of your 
own beating heart, but is recorded in music. — Ed- 
itorial. 



From the Hartford (Ct.) Literary Harvester. 

STATE OF MORALS IN SOCIETY. 



,lj i BY A. B. F. HII/DBETH. 

The state of morals in any community should 
interest every one. He who feels no desire to 
know their condition, whether they are progress- 
ing or are on the retrograde, has strong reason to 
doubt his own attachment to the cause of virtue. 
The friends of morality will watch over it and 
carefully observe its movements; and they ever 
rejoice when its march is onward. Such persons 
have reason to rejoice at the present time. True, 
the many evils that pervade society, which have 
become "rooted and grounded" in the habits of 
the people, are not yet wholly eradicated. Vice, 
in its various forms, is still in our midst. The in- 
ebriates are sometimes met by the wayside, and 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 437 

the chilling oath of the blasphemer may be heard 
now and then. The watchman's cry at night for 
the capture of the incendiary, and the shout of 
the abandoned victim and votary of sensuality 
break at times on the startled ear. The wary pol- 
itician still engages in disseminating slander and 
falsehood; and the foe of Christianity is seen dis- 
tributing the upas fruit of his destructive doctrine. 

But are the vices of the present day so great as 
heretofore? Certainly, some are not. The tem- 
perance reformation has given a death-blow to 
some of them. It has stilled the waves of anguish 
in the bosom of many a devoted wife, and hushed 
the cries of her starving children. It has thinned 
the ranks of the pauper host; rendered tenantless 
the dungeon, and given to reason's sway the brain 
of the hapless maniac. The dwelling once filled 
with the noxious and sickening vapors of intoxi- 
cating beverages, is now redolent of the perfume 
of flowers. The child, once taught to lisp the 
curses of a drunken parent, is now taught to sylla- 
ble the words: "Our Father who art in heaven," 
with a sweet delight and in tones of gentle rev- 
erence, 

The abandonment of strong drink by thousands 
in our land has lessened many sinful habits. In 
numerous instances profanity has ceased. It has 
cured the ruinous disposition to gamble, and pre- 
vented the shedding of innocent blood. 

But from other premises we may reason that so- 
ciety is improving. The increasing attention giv- 
en to the cause of education indicates it. The 
cultivation of the mind has a direct tendency to 
chasten the thoughts, improve and refine the 
taste, and elevate and ennoble all the intellectual 
faculties. The encouragement given to ladies is a 
great incentive to the dissemination of knowledge. 
It is found that the human mind has no sex; that 
woman has keen sensibilities, pure and elevated 
sentiments and affections, and mental powers that 
are strong and vigorous. The wise in every en- 



438 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

lightened country acknowledge that woman gives 
tone to society. Then, can she, with all the better 
faculties of her soul expanded and refined, allow 
the car of moral reform to remain motionless? 
Impossible. 

So long as the portals of literature and science, 
those powerful engines of virtue and exaltation of 
character, are thrown open to both sexes; so long 
as the votaries of learning increase in number, 
and add more and more rapidly to their store of 
intellectual treasures, just so long will the whole 
train of morals be in continued and rapid pro- 
gression. 

Lowell, January, 18Jf2. 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

WINTER. 

The winter months — the time for sleigh- riding, 
coasting, and all kinds of frolic and pastime, is to 
many the pleasantest season of the year. Talk 
not of the beauty of those tropic climates where 
endless summer reigns — 

— "Where grain and flower and fruit 

Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er" — 

an eternity of unmitigated, enervating heat may 
do for poets and mad romancers, but we are fond 
of variety; we prefer our own rugged climate. 
Our short summer, which comes at a moment's 
warning, as it were, flinging flowers and sunshine 
over mountain and valley, and making the desert 
sing for joy, is rendered more delightful by the 
contrast with the cold and storms of winter 
months. The clear blue skies, sparkling snows 
and bracing winds of our winters bring with them 
an elasticity of the body, a lightness of spirit, that 
are never experienced in the drowsy k 'lands of the 
sun." 

Hence, New England is a magazine of energy 
and enterprise for the whole country. Her sons. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 439 

from battling with the difficulties that surround 
them; from overcoming the rigors of a despotic 
climate; from subduing the rocky steeps and bar- 
ren plains, literally making "the wilderness blos- 
som as the rose;" have acquired a reliance on 
their own powers; a boldness that has induced 
them to dare everything, and look upon no obsta- 
cle as insurmountable. Then give us our loved 
New England before all other lands. 

"Her sons, like the oaks of the forest, 

Have hearts nerved to meet 
Adversity's tempests, when sorest 

Around them they beat ; 
And like to the cliff-girdled waters 

So pure in the shallows of sand, 
Are the merry-eyed, rosy-cheeked daughters 

Of our own mountain land." 

February, 1843. A. B. F. H. 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

LIVING BY SPECULATION. 

Any man who does not procure an honest living 
by some productive industry, or by contributing 
as much to the convenience, knowledge and health 
of the laboring classes as he derives from their 
labors, is a drone and a nuisance upon society. 
This plan, too common in our country, of living 
by speculation on each other, is like the subsist- 
ence of the Kilkenny cats who ate each other up — 
all but the tips of their tails. Suppose that ten 
men should take their lodgings together at a pub- 
lic house and seek to make their living by gam- 
bling one with another at the same table. In this 
way nothing is produced, and in a short time some 
must become poor and unable to pay their bills, 
while the more crafty few would amass the money 
of those less fortunate. These could pay their 
bills a little longer than their ruined companions, 
but unless they leave the place their means ere 
long would be exhausted by the landlords bills 



440 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

and they also must fail. It is just so in that larger 
tavern, the world. Those who depend on specula- 
tion for a living do no good to society. On the 
contrary, they live by devouring others. And 
their own good fortune will not endure forever. 
Both themselves and those they have ruined will 
become objects of charity, or they will become 
desperate men and at length find a home in the 
penitentiary. — Editor. 



MAY DAY. 

A sweet tradition of olden time is that which 
sets apart, the first day of May as sacred to the 
floral goddess, and which prescribes an offering of 
the first flowers and fruits of the new year as the 
most suitable and sacred tribute to the shrine of 
that divinity. This custom, so pleasing in its ori- 
gin and observance, we are glad to find still cher- 
ished by the sons and daughters of New England 
who, with all their inherent dislike for the customs 
of the mother country, cannot find it in their 
hearts to trespass upon this time-honored and hal- 
lowed usage. It is in fact a species of worship of 
the Creator, with the beauteous fields, with their 
smiling and ever changing drapery, and the glori- 
ous arch above for the temple. To the young this 
is a time of unusual interest — one to which they 
look forward with fond anticipations of delight, 
even from amid the frosts and snows of winter. — 
Ed. G. M. Gem. 



From the American Protector. 

SUMMER. 



Summer, — bright, blue-eyed summer, — has once 
more appeared. The trees have donned their ver- 
nal beauty. The turf is rich in its carpet of eme- 
rald pranked with thousands of wild-flowers, and 
the groves are vocal with the notes of nature's 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 441 

minstrels. The bee has left his winter dwelling, 
and in the bland balmy air roves from flower to 
flower. 

— "Sweet daffodils 
That come before the swa How dare, and take 
The winds of heaven with beauty. Violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
Or Cyntherea's breath. Pale primrose, 
That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength ; a malady 
Most incident to maids. Bold oxlips, and 
The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds, 
The flower-de-luce being one." 

Now is the season for the worshipper of nature to 
leave the din of business, and wander in the secret 
byways where silence is sole monarch, and bud 
and blossom are blushing in their beauty; where, 
through the leafy canopy, the sunbeams penetrate 
like threads of glistening silver, and on every side 
flowers are breathing incense from their snowy 
petals; or, to dive into the deep and silent forests; 
to follow the windings of the joyous streamlets as 
they leap and dash along, freed from their icy fet- 
ters, sounding like "the music of the spheres," 
while the trout springs from their lucid bosoms, 
and the swallow dips his wing in their dewy treas- 
ures. 

So, away to the green fields and dells, the lone- 
ly lanes and silent forests; forget the turmoil of 
business and the din of men; think and commune 
with your heart, till it overruns with gratitude to 
the Giver of all good, and you cherish not a 
thought but of happiness and bliss,— holy mo- 
ments, which in after years will rise bright and 
beautiful spots in the desert of remembrance. 

The merry laugh of childhood, in all its artless- 
ness, and innocence, and loveliness, — and the hap- 
py songs of the joyous husbandman are ringing on 
every gale, — which show that the heart is over- 
flowing with gladness and is almost a stranger to 
sorrow. The cheek of beauty is suffused with a 
deeper and brighter carnation; the fire in the 
flashing eye of genius glows with a more intense 

56 



442 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

and dazzling brilliancy. The lively carol of the 
plumed songsters of the grove may be heard on 
every bough, from the earliest dawn of day till 
the shades of night have closed over the scene; 
and warbling forth their gay anthems they fill the 
air with melody. 

The flocks and herds are feeding in the green 
meadows and shady pastures. The buds of spring 
are changing to leaves and flowers; and the rose, 
the pink, the violet, the jassamine will soon bloom 
in the garden, in the vale and on the mountain's 
brow. The purling rivulet in gentle cadence runs 
down the sloping hillside, mingles with a sister 
stream, and then in unison they flow on and join 
the wild cascade, the impetuous torrent, the foam- 
ing cataract, and roll in madness and fury to their 
ocean home, the dark blue sea! 

Ah! give us the bright and balmy days of sum- 
mer, — the cool and rosy dewy morn, — the warm 
and cheering noon, — the soft and refreshing breeze 
of evening, — the glowing and golden sunset, — 
the clear blue cloudless sky, — the soft mellow 
starry twilight. Then is the time to live, — then 
the season that we enjoy life. When nature in her 
loveliest aspect, is arrayed in her gayest and 
brightest robes, then it is that we are happy. 
And why not, when all around us are gay and 
smiling as the joyous season itself? We have 
sometimes almost wished that this would last for- 
ever, — that it would always be summer! 

Bradford, VL, 18^3. A. B. F. H. 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

JUNE. 



Month of leaves and month of roses ; 

Loveliest of the circling year ; 
Softly nature's self reposes 

While thou ling'rest here. 

Bright o'er valley, plain and mountain, 
Thou hast flung thy mantle green ; 

Gayly now from many a fountain 
Glides the stream unseen. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 443 

'Songs of praises, never ceasing," 

From the forest warblers rise ; 
Sweeter, louder, still increasing, 

To the vaulted skies. 

All the face of nature blooming, 

Tells with sweet and silent voice, 
Of the rich abundance coming, 

Bidding us rejoice. 

A. B. F. H. 



From the, Boston Olive Branch. 

ADVERTISING FOR WIVES. 



BY A. B. P, HILDRETH. 

The practice of advertising for wives is becom- 
ing too common in this country, and should awak- 
en serious inquiry in the mind of every reflecting 
person. Too common — yes; were there but one 
solitary instance existing, that one would number 
too many. But instead of there being solitary in- 
stances, such advertisements have nearly ceased 
to be a singularity; and soon will cease to cause a 
passing remark. Should this be so? Do they 
promote a just regard for marriage obligations 
and a due consideration of their solemn impor- 
tance? Nay. When wives are ranked at par ex- 
cellence with a box of merchandise we may well 
question whether the buyer values the one more 
than the other. 

Some of these bidders in market plead, in exten- 
uation of their dernier resort, a want of social and 
intimate acquaintance with the other sex.. In re- 
ply I would ask, whose is the fault? Is it not that 
the gentlemen have been so assiduous in their at- 
tention upon the inanimate possessions of this 
earth that the animate treasures, piqued at the 
successful rivalry of their opponents, "take to 
themselves wings and fly" at the too tardy efforts 
to woo them? 

But angry as the fair ones may seem to be at 
too late an appreciation of their charms, I must 
say that any gentleman who has not sufficient tact 



444 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

and address to gain a favorable introduction and 
acquaintance with any lady who has not particu- 
lar reasons for avoiding his society, is too dull to 
render himself agreeable, and is destitute of that 
sympathizing tenderness of heart which adds pe- 
culiar fascination to social intercourse. 

That such emotions have never startled with a 
thrill of heaven's own bliss the sluggishness of 
that man's views who can coolly make out a bill of 
endowments that his wife must possess, as he 
would a "bill of sale," of tea and sugar, — that he 
has never learned that "love is a holy thing," the 
most perfect prototype of God's nature given man, 
is evident from the manner in which he treats the 
subject. He has yet to learn that the affections, 
like the grace of Him who is their author, are 
from free gift. They cannot be bought; neither 
can prudential motives beget them. Let those 
who have loved tell, if they can, how, where, and 
when the first beam of life's sun darted its ray 
into their bosoms. Let them analyze, decompose 
and elucidate the process of loving. Incidents 
and circumstances may be noted, but did they in- 
tend to love? Did they know that they were 
yielding up the happiness of a separate existence? 
Nay. For when they knew this they already 
loved. 

Those who advertise to form matrimonial en- 
gagements betray a total want of knowledge of 
the mysterious influence of love. They want a 
wife; they desire to enter into the matrimonial 
state; and imagine very extenuating circumstances 
for leaving the only ingredient, which should ren- 
der the state desirable, entirely out of the ques- 
tion. They want a wife; and, forsooth, they are 
disposed to bargain for one, even as they would 
buy a horse! They write out their "bills," stat- 
ing the qualities desired, and the contingences to 
be expected in return; and if there is an animal to 
be disposed of upon such terms it can find a pur- 
chaser by giving due notice. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 445 

Indeed, these advertisements for wives gener- 
ally bear a striking resemblance to those of the 
jockey for a horse. For instance: The horse 
must be six years old; of a bright bay color; fif- 
teen hands high; and well fitted for the situation 
in which it will be placed. It must possess a first- 
rate pace; a graceful gait; never kick; and be of a 
respectable pedigree.'' Seriously, cold, calculat- 
ing alliances like these are a libel upon the sweet- 
est boon vouchsafed to man, and make one of the 
holiest alliances a matter of mere bargain and 
speculation ! 

Can situation be offset with goodness, virtue and 
sympathy? Can even talents and worth pay the 
price of devoted affection? They might excite it; 
but when they are offered as "for value received," 
refinement and delicacy must turn in scorn from 
the proffered exchange. How insignificant look 
earth's richest treasures, or the wreath that sur- 
rounds fame's glittering pinnacle, compared with 
the rich treasures of the soul, 

"Where thought meets thought ere from the lips they part, 
And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart." 

He who would make this generous sympathy of 
mind with mind a mere article of merchandise; I 
had almost said, must be lost to all delicacy and 
refinement of feelings. Does such a man think 
that He who taught the bird to seek its mate and 
rear its nestlings, has neglected to implant the 
same mysterious sympathy of kind with kind in 
the nature of His beings of higher intelligence? 
Do they think to awaken that melody where heart 
tunes heart by a shrill whistle and public call? In 
countries where wives are to be procured for 
"fixed value," the course would be admissible; but 
in a land, and amid society, making pretensions 
to civilization and refinement, we cannot but say 
that it is wanting in delicacy, derogatory to the 
female character, and stamps the divine ordinance 
of marriage as a mere mercenary contract. 



446 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

LITERATURE. 

The literature of a community cannot regulate 
itself. It will receive its character from those 
who purchase its journals and books. Then let 
every moral citizen consider it his duty to watch 
over the state of the popular journals and maga- 
zines with the most careful vigilance; guarding 
them against any and every feature that shall dis- 
honor our literature or the country whence it 
springs. Imbibing the spirit of Grimke, let us 
"covet for our country the noblest, purest and 
loveliest literature the world has ever seen, — such 
a literature as shall honor God and bless mankind, 
— a literature whose smile might play upon an 
angel's face, and whose tears would not stain an 
angel's cheek." — Editor G. M. Gem. 



From the American Protector. 

THE DEATH OF A BELOVED COMPANION. 



BY A. B. F. HILBvRETH. 

Farewell, dear companion, a sad farewell ; 

Thou'rt gone from earth in heavenly scenes to dwell ; 

For sure if ever being, formed from dust, 

Might hope for bliss, thine was that holy trust. 

Spotless and pure from God thy spirit came ; 

Thy last soft prayer was heard — No more to roam ; 

Thou art, ('twas all thy wish,) thou art "gone home,"* 

Mine are the loss and agonizing grief, 

The slow dread hours, the sighs without relief ; 

The lingering nights, the thoughts of pleasure past : 

Memory, that wounds and darkens to the last — 

How desolate the space, how deep the line, 

That part my hopes, my fates, my paths, from thine ! 

With faltering steps I tread the shadowy shore. 

Thou art at rest, where storms can vex no more ; 

When shall we meet again, and kiss away 

The tears of joy in one eternal day? 

When sickness came, though short and hurried o'er, 

It made thee more an angel than before. 

But oh, how vain, by art or words to tell 

What ne'er was told — affection's magic spell ! 

When death strikes down, with sudden crush and power, 

: Her dying words were, "I want to go home." 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 447 

Connubial hope, and blasts its opening flower, 
Most vainly tell, how deep that long despair, 
Which time ne'er heals, which time can ne'er repair. 

How changed the scene ! in every favorite walk 
I miss thy 'lastic step, thy artless talk ; 
Where'er I turn, I feel thee ever near ; 
Some frail memorial comes, some image dear ! 
My home, how full of thee ! But where art thou ? 
Gone, like the sunbeam from the mountain's brow ; 
But, unlike that, once passed the fated bourn; 
Bright beam of heaven, thou never shalt return. 
Yet still it soothe s my heart on thee to dwell ; 
My Olive, dearest one, farewell, farewell ! 

Bradford, Vt., March, 1844. 



CHRISTMAS. 

Christmas is a day peculiarly sacred to children. 
The feeling comes to us of New England rather 
from German influence than that of native growth. 
The evergreen tree is now often reared for the 
children on Christmas evening, and its branches 
cluster with little tokens that may at least give 
them an idea that the world is rich, and that there 
are those in it who care to bless them. The 
thought of Jesus as a child has great weight with 
children. In thinking of Him they form an image 
of all that the warning of a pure and perfect life 
should be and bring. — Editor Gem. 



PUBLIC OPINION. 

A very changeable thing is public taste, the 
meteor of caprice, the new-born bubble of the day. 
Its mutability is seen in the story of the painter 
who pleased everybody and nobody; in the career 
of the actor, who lives to please; of the author, 
who writes to live; of the editor, who caters for 
the public maw, which swallows its millions at a 
meal. The life of an editor is the life of lives. 
The confessions of an opium eater, and other con- 
fessions, would be nothing to the confessions of 
an editor. The veteran of the press — what a story 
he could tell of the ups and downs, the ins and 



448 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

outs of a chequered life ! An editor is a man of all 
work, a miscellaneous gentleman, who knows ev- 
erybody and a little of everything. He is in the 
world and out of the world. He lives in the past, 
the present and the future. He must be all things 
to all men, or all men will be nothing to him. — 
Editor Am. Protector. 



BOOKS. 

Who does not like to converse with these kind- 
souled companions? From our earliest days they 
have been our solace and our delight. To them 
we could ever go in the hour of sadness, and be 
comforted. Even when the surges of affliction 
were swelling in our bosom their soothing conver- 
sation would calm the troubled mind. The hours 
we have spent with these silent friends are among 
the sweetest of our existence. We have been as 
glad to converse and sport with our books as 
Byron was with his "old acquaintance," the ocean. 
This friendship is still unbroken. It has "grown 
with our growth and has strengthened with our 
strength." We have been to each other like a 
David and a Jonathan, loving each other and nev- 
er desiring to be parted. 

Books are the precious treasures of mind — 
Caskets of intellect, wherein enshrined, 

With all the effluence of beauty fraught, 

Beam forth the sparkling diamonds of thought. 

—Editor G. M. Gem. 



From the American Protector. 

SKETCHES OF TRAVEL. 



BY THE EDITOK. 



A short time since, the editor of the "Protector" 
and his "better half" had the pleasure of a jour- 
ney to the borders of Maine. That we might the 
better economize time and derive the greater en- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 449 

joyment and comfort on our journey, we traveled 
with our own nag and vehicle. Our route lay 
through Plymouth, Centre Harbor and Conway, in 
New Hampshire, to Fryeburg, in Maine; thence 
through the White Mountain Notch, to our home 
in Bradford, Vermont. 

The weather, on the day we left Bradford, was 
exceedingly warm and the traveling dusty. We 
tarried over night at the Pemigewassett House, 
kept by our friend Burnham, in Plymouth; and a 
welcome home did we find it, as we have ever done 
before. The next day was cold and rainy, and we 
were more determined than ever before, that, 
when traveling, we would provide ourselves with 
apparel suited to all occasions — that, were it the 
season of "dog days," we would be prepared to 
encounter a January "nor'wester. " 

We started early on the following morning, and 
after toiling over the hills in Holderness, arrived 
in Centre Harbor. By this time we had a pretty 
good appetite for breakfast. Of course we called 
at the "Senter House," kept by Mr. Coe. This 
hotel' is situated at the head of one of the harbors 
of Lake Winnipissiogee, and the location and 
scenery around are most romantic. If we might 
venture on a little piece of friendly advice to the 
landlord, we would suggest the propriety of im- 
partiality in the kinds of reading laid before the 
traveler. A whig does not like to be surfeited 
with locofocoism, nor vice versa. 

Prom Centre Harbor the journey was easy to 
Fryeburg. The road was smooth and hard, and 
the scenery picturesque and sublime. Ossipee, 
Sandwich and 'Squam mountains, and Red Hill, 
appeared before us in their most imposing aspects. 
The latter mountain is becoming a fashionable re- 
sort for travelers. The views from its summit, in 
various directions, are fine and varied in the ex- 
treme. 

As we pass along the margin of the Bear Camp 
river, Red Hill is behind us; the great Ossipee 

57 



450 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

range is on our right; and on our left, rising and 
changing still, is the Sandwich range, with old 
Chocorua turning to us her laughing granite face. 
On arriving at Conway we have a distinct though 
distant view of the far-famed Mount Washington. 
But we are now only eight miles from Fryeburg; 
and, as night approaches, our thoughts are more 
intent upon the friends we hope to meet there than 
upon the mountainous piles of granite which all 
around, in the distance, meet the eye. 

Just in the gray of twilight we find ourselves in 
the beautiful village of Fryeburg; and, drawing 
up to the piazza of the "Oxford House," our com- 
panion in life for the first time since leaving the 
paternal roof to share the untried scenes of wed- 
lock, enjoys the hearty, greetings and affectionate 
embraces of father, mother and sisters; all grate- 
ful for the privilege of meeting again, and that in 
the enjoyment of health. Here we passed a few 
days in the most happy and agreeable manner. 
There is much in Fryeburg to render the stay of 
the stranger pleasant. The society of the place 
has the reputation of being fully equal, if not 
superior, to that of most similar towns. The peo- 
ple appear to enjoy a high degree of intelligence, 
— are well educated, independent, virtuous and 
happy. Here, in his earlier days, Daniel Webster 
was a teacher in the academy, and on one occasion 
chased a refractory youth out at the window and 
across the fields, and finally administered the 
much needed castigation — the pedagogue Daniel 
being hatless and coatless. 

The town of Fryeburg lies on both sides of the 
Saco river, on the line of New Hampshire, and the 
"intervales" along the river are of the choicest 
kind. The township is only six miles square, yet 
the Saco is here so circuitous in its course, that its 
meanderings comprise an extent of thirty- six 
miles within its limits. The plains now occupied 
by the town of Fryeburg and the adjoining town 
of Conway, were by the Indians called Pequawket. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 451 

The Pequawket tribe had three settlements or vil- 
lages; one at North Conway, another at Conway, 
and the other at Fryeburg. The name of their 
chief was Paugus who himself resided at the latter 
place, and had governors appointed to preside 
over the other two families. 

The principal village of Fryeburg has a delight- 
ful location, — surrounded by lofty hills and wa- 
tered by the Saco. It bears evident marks of an- 
tiquity. Its academy has a cabinet of rare curios- 
ities collected with much diligence. There are 
several elevations near the village, which com- 
mand excellent views of the place and the sur- 
rounding country. Among them are Stark's Hill, 
Pine Hill and Jocky Cap. We ascended the two 
last named, and were well rewarded for our 
trouble. The "Jocky Cap" is a bold granite rock, 
considerably elevated and of incalculable dimen- 
sions. From its sides have rolled down huge 
boulders which lie scattered at its base. It was in 
a cavern formed by these boulders, (which we 
examined,) that Capt. Lovewell and his men en- 
camped on the night previous to the dreadful fight 
of Lovewell's Pond. The pond lies but a few rods 
distant,— a beautiful sheet of water, — and, though 
so still and tranquil now, it was once the scene of 
bloody combat and the overthrow of a powerful 
Indian tribe. The story of Lovewell's Fight has 
been told thousands of times, and will continue to 
be told as long as time endures. 

It was on the 18th of April, 1735, that Capt. 
John Lovewell, of Dunstable, Mass. , having under 
his command a detachment of thirty-four men, 
encountered nearly one hundred savages of the 
Pequawket tribe under the renowned chief and 
warrior, Paugus, near the shore of what is now 
termed Lovewell's Pond. For many long hours 
by the side of this water, eye to eye, and almost 
arm to arm, fought these brave combatants. Love- 
well, with nearly a third part of his little band, 
fell at the first fire of the Indians. Still the cour- 



452 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

age of the white men wavered not. They contin- 
ued the strife until the dreaded Paugus fell, and 
the Indians, convinced of the fierce and determined 
resolution of the whites, in consternation gave up 
the battle. They left their foes master of the 
ground, and silently retreated to North Conway. 
Here they held a counsel, and believing it impos- 
sible to exterminate the whites, they immediately 
took up their march through the Notch of the 
White Mountains and settled themselves in Cana- 
da. They always remembered this conflict; and 
frequently have individuals of the remnant tribe 
visited the battle-ground. 

Among the fallen officers, lost by the whites in 
this fierce struggle, was their worthy Chaplain, 
Frye, of Andover, for whom the town of Fryeburg 
was named. But a small number of this ill-fated 
company ever reached their homes. They made 
their graves in the wilderness; and the pen of the 
historian, and the rhyme of the ballad-maker, 
have kept their deeds in remembrance. The clos- 
ing verse of one of these songs is: 

"Old men will shake their heads and say, 
Sad was the hour, and terrible, 
When Lovewell brave 'gainst Paugus came, 
With two score men from Dunstable." 

In company with several friends we rode to the 
place before named, where Lovewell and his men 
encamped and hid their knapsacks, &c, previous 
to the engagement. This place was afterwards 
identified by one of the venerable survivors of the 
company. Directly over it rises the rocky prom- 
ontory of "Jocky Cap," nearly two hundred feet 
high. After ascending this we wended our way 
to the battle-ground. In olden time, lofty pines, 
with no underbrush, grew all around this pond. 
But these have disappeared and a younger growth 
of trees has arisen, and our pathway took us 
through a thick undergrowth. As we came to the 
beach, a few broken tree trunks, with their dry 
mossy arms extended, revealed to us the place of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 453 

battle. There were the old pines, scarred in that 
deadly combat. One was pointed out to us be- 
neath which Paugus fell. A small rivulet, empty- 
ing into the pond, was also pointed out as being 
the place where the surviving whites repaired to 
quench their thirst and wash their guns. Bullet 
marks are still visible on the trunks of the old 
trees, and also places where balls have been cut 
out by the curious. Around the trees repose the 
bones of the white men. The silence pervading 
the scene seemed in strange contrast with the war- 
whoop and rattling of musketry heard here one 
hundred and twenty years ago. Bushes and rank 
grass encircle the resting places of the fallen, and 
the winds and waters murmur a perpetual requiem 
over their graves. 

'■ After enjoying one of the happiest visits desir- 
able, we took our departure from Fryeburg, with 
many pleasing recollections of the place and peo- 
ple, to return to our home in Vermont. Our route 
lay along the margin of the Saco river even to its 
source in the "Notch." The weather was fine and 
the ride was highly enjoyed. Rich "intervales" 
along the river, and beautiful cottages and farm 
houses greeted the eye. As we proceeded the 
scenery increased in grandeur; and when we drove 
up to the door of the "Mount Crawford House," 
we began to realize that we were embosomed in 
the mountains. Here we ordered refresements, 
and never were we better served. Trout, right 
from the mountain brook; apples of the finest fla- 
vor; meats of various kinds; eggs, pies, cakes, 
custards, preserves, sweetmeats, &c, &c, of the 
choicest kinds and in rich abundance, were set 
before us. Our faithful beast was well attended 
to by the accommodating hostler, and nothing 
seemed to be lacking for the accommodation and 
comfort of travelers. 

From this, (the elder Crawford's,) we proceeded 
on our way up the Saco. No human habitation is 
visible for six miles. Then we came to the "Wil- 



454 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

ley House," where we always made a call when 
traveling that way. The account of the sad catas- 
trophe at this place has been published again and 
again. The spot where the Willey family were 
found buried by the great slide is marked by a 
stake and stones. Letting our horse rest a mo- 
ment, we, escorted by a polite guide, walked down 
to view the spot. Nearly all visitors to the White 
Mountains go to the "Willey House." A polite 
and affable gentleman now occupies the house for 
the purpose of entertaining travelers. 

Three miles above the Willey House is the 
"Notch House," kept by Thomas J. Crawford. 
Our sensations in passing those three miles cannot 
be described. The feelings of awe and reverence, 
inspired by the vast mountainous piles that rear 
their tops on either hand so high, and almost shut 
out the light of heaven, are beyond the power of 
language to express. 

As we pass the "Gap," a natural passway of 
thirty feet between this body of mountain stone, 
where only the road and river find room, the 
Notch House appears in full view. 

"Hail ! Nature's storm-proof fortresses, 
By Freedom's children trod ; 
Hail ! ye invulnerable walls, 
The masonry of Gk)d !" 

This poetic salutation of Brooks seems appro- 
priate at this place, The beautiful silvery cas- 
cades that leap from the mountain tops, down 
their sides, into the bed of the Saco, here a mere 
rivulet do not fail pleasantly to meet the eye of 
the beholder; while the deep cuts worn by the 
Saco, far down beneath the road, make one giddy 
with wonder. 

The travel to the White Mountains has been 
yearly increasing, and this season is very great. 
There is a small basin of water but a few rods 
from the Notch House, which divides the waters 
of the Saco and Amonoosuc rivers. The one emp- 
ties its waters into the Atlantic near the city of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 455 

Saco, in Maine; while the other, by way of the 
Connecticut river, empties its waters into Long 
Island Sound. 

Five miles from the Notch, down the Amonoo- 
suc, is the well-known "Fabyan House." Here the. 
traveler has an excellent view of Mount Washing- 
ton. This and the Notch House are rival hotels. 
They are both excellent and satisfactory to the 
public in every respect. 

Descending the Amonoosuc, some twenty miles, 
we arrived at Littleton, a beautiful and pleasantly 
situated village, doing much business, and increas- 
ing in population and wealth. Nothing of remark- 
able interest now marked our journey home; and 
at the close of the second day we found ourselves 
happily seated in our own domicile. 

Bradford, Vt, July, 18J+5. 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

AUTUMN. 



BY THE EDITOR. 

This season is proverbially beautiful and inter- 
esting. Our springs are too humid and chilly; 
our summers too hot and dusty; and our winters 
too cold and tempestuous. But autumn, that soft 
twilight of the waning year, is ever delightfully 
temperate and agreeable. Nothing can be more 
rich and splendid than the variegated mantles 
which our forests put on, after throwing off the 
light green drapery of summer. 

Poets of every grade have descanted in doleful 
strains on the "'sere and yellow leaf." From the 
sage achiever of stately verse, down to the sappy 
rhymer of beardless years, each must have some- 
thing to say about the melancholy of these autum- 
nal days. But is there any thing really sad ap- 
pertaining to them? True, there is a sedate and 
even solemn look on the visage of nature, and such 
an aspect usually gives rise to a sober and reflect- 



456 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

ive turn of mind; but the feelings, thus drawn out, 
are not painful or deeply saddening"; they are 
rather, as we have heard it expressed, pleasingly 
pensive. 

In our New England, autumn comes not in "so- 
ber guise," or in "russet mantle clad," but, as ex- 
pressed in the beautiful language of Miss Kemble, 
like a triumphant emperor arrayed in ' 'gorgeous 
robes of Tyrian dyes!" 

Nothing for beauty can exceed the forests at 
this time. No eye can behold them without being 
delighted. What a variegated scene! The leaves 
present a thousand dyes, all rich and charming. 
How must England envy us in respect to our 
woodland scenery! She has none of our variety 
of trees, consequently her parks can give nothing 
of that various coloring which our forests now 
present. 

This is the proper season in which one truly en- 
joys in all its maturity of luxurious loveliness a 
country excursion. 

"There, the loaded fruit-trees, bending, 

Strew with mellow gold the land ; 

Here, on high, from vines impending, 

Purple clusters court the hand." 

Autumn now throws her many-tinted robe over 
our landscape, unequaled by the richest drapery 
which nature's wardrobe can furnish in any part 
of the world. We read of Italian skies and tropic- 
al evergreens, and often long to visit those regions 
where the birds have 

— "no sorrow in their song, 
No winter in their year." 

But where can we find such an assemblage of 
beauty as is displayed, at this moment, in the 
groves and forests of our Green Mountain State? 
Europe and Asia may be explored in vain. To 
them has prodigal nature given springs like Eden, 
summers of plenty and winters of mildness. To 
the land of our nativity alone has she given au- 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 457 

tumns of unrivaled beauty, magnificence and abun- 
dance. The most of our poets have sung the 
charms of this season, all varying from each oth- 
er, and all beautiful, like the many-tinted hues of 
the foliage of the groves. The pensive, senti- 
mental, moralizing Bryant says: 

"The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year;" 

but his exquisite lines are so well known that we 
must resist the temptation to quote them. The 
blithe, jocund, light-hearted Halleck sings in quite 
a different strain in describing the country at this 
period. Who would not know these lines to be 
his? 

— "In the autumn time 
Earth has no holier nor no lovelier clime." 

But we must not quote him, either, for the same 
reason. It is pleasant to ramble at this season 
along the upland heights and through the forest 
walks, surveying the landscapes and contemplat- 
ing the decay of nature! Like the consumptive, 
she is most beautiful when the tide of vitality be- 
gins to run low. There is instruction to be gath- 
ered from the fading of earth's gay foliage. 

"There is a tongue in every leaf," 

which declares that we, too, must fall, anon, and 
admonishes us to be in readiness for the frosts of 
death. 



'A world there is eternal, 

Where, merging from the sod, 

We shall bloom forever vernal, 
In the paradise of God." 



58 



458 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

From the Vermont Family Gazette. 

RELIEF FOR IRELAND. 



BY A. B. F. HILDBETH. 



The great staple product of Ireland — the potato 
— has been cut off by the disease which has been 
gradually infesting that root, and it has been out 
of the power of the people to raise their provi- 
sions. An oppressive government has crippled 
their resources, and has in various ways deprived 
them of employment, whereby they could earn a 
livelihood. Their parliament has been wrenched 
from them by a haughty and tyranizing govern- 
ment; their manufactories have diminished; their 
internal improvements are suspended; and there 
is no alternative left them but to depend on char- 
ity, or — starve! 

Reader! have you been accustomed to look upon 
an Irishman with contempt? Have you despised 
him for his poverty and ignorance and degrada- 
tion? Then look to the causes which have led to 
this state of things. Read them in England's his- 
tory of tyranny and oppression. Yes, that proud, 
haughty, cold and selfish people, who pride them- 
selves on being the greatest and best; who boast 
of their national strength and national glory; on 
whose dominions the sun never ceases to shine; 
this great and mighty nation are responsible for 
this wo! Great, England may be, but her great- 
ness is written in tyranny, in slaughter, in blood! 

"Man's inhumanity to man 
Makes countless thousands mourn." 

Do you despise Ireland for her wretchedness? 
Think what she might have been; think what she 
has been. Where do you find better or nobler 
blood than that which courses Irish veins? Is the 
cold, calculating Englishman to occupy a higher 
place in your estimation than the warm-hearted, 
devoted, affectionate Irishman? Where, on this 
broad earth, do you find such generosity of heart, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 459 

such ardent and enduring affection, as you find in 
the Irish breast? Have you no respect for Irish 
character? Think of her historians, and min- 
strels, and poets, and statesmen, and philanthro- 
pists. Tom Moore wrote the history of Ireland; 
and though much of her history may be in song, 
where do you find metered verse like that of Erin's 
bard? What statesman stands higher in the 
world's annals than Daniel O'Connell? Where is 
there philanthropy to match that of Father Mat- 
thew? Must it be said of such a people, in the 
language of one of her poets: 

"Weep on, weep on, your hour is past ; 

Your dreams of pride are o'er ; 
The fatal chain is round you cast, 

And you are men no more. 
In vain the hero's heart hath bled ; 

The sage's tongue hath warned in vain ; 
Oh, Freedom ! once thy flame hath fled, 

It never lights again !" 

Nay, nay — we would rather rejoin: 

"Weep on. Perhaps in after days 

They'll learn to love your name ; 
When many a deed may wake in praise 

That long hath slept in blame. 
And when they tread the ruined Isle, 

Where rest at length the lord and slave, 
They'll wond'ring ask how hands so vile 

Could conquer hearts so brave." 

Then, people of America, for humanity's sake, 
give, give. 'Twill not make you poorer, but 'twill 
make the Irish, if not richer, certainly happier. 
They are the children of one common parent with 
yourselves. Their blood may course through your 
own veins. Your relations and friends, perchance, 
are in want and are dying in that stricken land; 
then do not for a moment hesitate to give them 
succor. ' 'They who give to the poor lend to the 
Lord; 7 ' and, although you have the promise that 
if you "cast your bread upon the waters it will 
return to you after many days," still you do not 
ask it. Your own approving conscience is your 



460 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

greatest reward; and when you offer daily thanks 
to God for the blessings that surround you, you 
will render Him heart-felt gratitude that your lot 
is cast in this glorious land of liberty; this great 
asylum of the suffering and oppressed of all na- 
tions, flowing with abundant harvests and innu- 
merable earthly blessings. 

Fathers and mothers! Brothers and sisters! 
When you are gathered around the domestic fire- 
side, surrounded with your comforts and pleasures; 
when you behold each other's smiling faces, and 
cheeks flushed with health; will you not cast your 
eyes, in imagination, to the family groups in Ire- 
land, and mark, oh, mark the contrast? There 
are hearts as tender, as sympathising, as affection- 
ate as your own. But there you witness no smil- 
ing faces; no rosy cheeks; but. on the contrary, 
forlorn and haggard countenances, and cheeks 
with the flesh shriveled and dried, and the skin 
cleaving to the bones! Oh, it is awful that this 
island which the good God had made the most 
beautiful of all the isles of the sea, should present 
such a spectacle! 

Let every man, woman and child contribute 
something for this woful people. If it is but a 
shilling, a sixpence, a penny, it will be so much in 
the scale of humanity. *Let your united contri- 
butions load the vessel with provisions and cloth- 
ing, and say to her: 

"Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark, 
Whenever blows the welcome wind ; 
You'll ne'er be led to scenes more dark, 
More sad than you'll in Ireland find !" 

Bradford, Vt., March. 18^7. 



*Mrs. Hildreth was very active and very successful in gather- 
ing up charitable contributions for Ireland, at this time, and 
the steamer which conveyed them across the ocean was char- 
tered by Vice President Morton, then a merchant in Hanover, 
N. H. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 461 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

TO MY MOTHER. 



BY A. B. F. HILDBETH. 

Tired of the world's bewild'ring maze — to thee, 
Mother, I fondly turn. Mother ! oh, name 

Most dear and holy ! thou hast been to me 
A source whence pure and rich affections came. 

My childhood was a term of brief delight ; 

Thy smile the sun that gladdened all the way ; 
And after years went by in stealthier flight, 

Touched by thy soft affection's changeless ray. 

If any purer, more ennobling thought 
Hath e'er, 'mid grosser cares, my spirit swayed, 

'Twas from thy high-toned precepts early caught, 
The homage still, by thee, to virtue paid. 

The simplest flower I brought, to thee was bright ; 

Nature had power thy soul with joy to fill ; 
And time hath touched thee with a hand so light, 

The heart of youth is in thy bosom still. 

Thy energy, thy patience, half divine ; 

Thy long enduring love's perpetual bow ; 
Thy firmness, when the pain was only thine ; 

Thy melting pity for another's woe ; 

These are the things that to my heart have grown ; 

And with no childish sorrow, light or brief, 
I weep that, of thy dear ones, some are gone, 

Nor know, nor mingle with, thy joy or grief ! 

Thy quiet days on earth be blest and long ; 

Go gently down life's vale, my mother dear ; 
And woe is me that, from the busy throng, 

I may not turn, that downward path to cheer. 

Yet from afar I bless thee ; and I feel, 

(Rememb'ring still what thou wouldst have me be,) 
A sweet and soothing influence o'er me steal, 

Making me worthier of myself and thee. 



May 10, 1847, 



462 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

Prom the Vermont Family Gazette. 

THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY. 



BY A. B. F. HILDBETH. 

Tourists and essayists have made classic almost 
every important section of our loved country, and 
I have often wondered that the valley of the # Con- 
necticut river should have attracted so little no- 
tice. Some there are who affect to see nothing 
worthy of their admiration, which is American. 
They must cross the broad Atlantic, and repair to 
the vine-clad hills of sunny Italy; and an excur- 
sion upon the Danube, or a voyage down the 
Rhine, must be had, before any thing beautiful, 
and grand, and sublime, can be witnessed. True, 
there is beauty in these, but I am so much of an 
American as to believe that my own land surpass- 
es them all, and that the Connecticut valley will 
not suffer in comparison. 

The Rhine is wild and picturesque, and the his- 
tories of a thousand years have hallowed its banks; 
but its current is narrow and broken by rapids, 
and it finds an ignominious grave in the sands of 
Holland. The Danube is sublime, where the Sty- 
rian mountains bend down, as if in homage to its 
tide; but it grows stagnant in the marshes of Ser- 
via, and its divided flood goes sluggishly on to 
mingle with the stormy Euxine. But the rivers 
of America have a grand, original beauty. Our 
Connecticut is mantled with a garb of green, un- 
shorn forest; is girded about with mountains 
whose far summits ' 'brighten in the ether air, " or 
is environed with parks, and lawns, and meadows, 
compared with which the boast of old England is 
the tamest romance. From its very cradle among 
the northern highlands till its proud waves meet 
and clasp those of the ocean, it wears a fresh, ex- 
haustless beauty; a deep abounding fullness and 
freedom, which claims reverence as well as admi- 
ration; fit ideal of man in the new world. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 463 

An ambitious man should build his home in the 
valley of the Connecticut, — for if any thing on 
earth can inspire tranquil and pleasant feelings, 
then will the objects which, so harmoniously com- 
bined, make this valley exceedingly beautiful. 
The Connecticut river has been aptly termed the 
"Nile of New England." It cannot be presumed 
that it will vie in richness and magnificence with 
the great fountain of Egypt's wealth; still it is of 
vast importance to the country through which it 
passes. Rising amid the highlands which divide 
the waters of the St. Lawrence from those of the 
Atlantic, the Connecticut traverses a route of more 
than four hundred miles, till it discharges its wa- 
ters into Long Island Sound. In imitation of the 
Nile, this beautiful stream annually, and sometimes 
semi-annually, overflows its banks, thereby great- 
ly fertilizing the broad and verdant meadows 
through which it passes. 

As before stated, the scenery of the Connecticut 
is most pleasing and beautiful. In full view from 
my window, as I sit writing, are Old Moose Hil- 
lock, Owl's Head, Sugar Loaf, and other bold and 
lofty elevations of the White Mountain range, — 
"the Alps of America," — as the White Mountains 
have been termed, — while at their base on the 
west the limpid waters of the calm and majestic 
Connecticut gracefully meander through green 
and fertile meadows. 

Still, this valley is not attended by that impos- 
ing grandeur which walls in the Hudson, nor that 
tremendous sublimity which overawes the visitor 
to Niagara's cataract. But for bland, verdant 
scenery; for neat and tasty farms, with their tidy 
dwellings dotted all along on its banks, with here 
and there a little village of white cottages nestled 
together, as if for mutual comfort and happiness; 
all the happy and peaceful abodes of loving fam- 
ilies; for industry, integrity, morality, and all that 
makes man truly great and happy, there is no 
place on earth that can surpass it. 



464 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

Beautiful and lovely as this valley is, through 
the combined agency of nature and art, and pleas- 
ant as it is to contemplate the enjoyment here af- 
forded to civilized man, still we cannot suppress 
the reflection that, not many generations ago, in 
this enchanting vale, there lived and loved anoth- 
er race of beings. Long before the white man set 
foot upon these banks, the wild sons of the forest 
here cultivated their meadow patches in the 
growth of maize or Indian corn, and the celebrated 
"Oxbow," a few miles above this place, was prob- 
ably the most extensive Indian farm in this section 
of the country. 

But at length the white man came and took pos- 
session. Like the morning dew before the sun's 
piercing rays, did the poor untutored son of the 
forest, his squaw and papoose, depart from the 
withering presence of the pale-faces. The coun- 
cil-fire has long since died out, and every vestige 
of the aboriginal race, that once lived and loved 
and worshiped here has passed away. In the lan- 
guage of a gifted bard we imagine them saying: 

"They waste us; ay, like April snow 
In the warm noon, we shrink away, 

And fast they follow, as we go 
Towards the setting day, 

Till they shall fill the land, and we 

Are driv'n into the western sea !" 

The last remnant was an old Indian, familiarly 
known as Captain Joe. He was a staunch Whig 
of the Revolution, and rejoiced in every success of 
the colonies. He and his squaw, Molly, paid a 
visit to Gen. Washington, at his headquarters on 
the Hudson, and were received with marked atten- 
tion. It was his boast that he had shaken hands 
with Washington and eaten at his table. 

Captain Joe survived his wife many years, and 
after he became old the Legislature of Vermont 
voted him an annual pension. He died February 
19, 1819, aged 79 years, and was buried near to the 
beautiful "Oxbow," on the banks of his loved 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 465 

Connecticut. His gun, which was found loaded, 
was discharged over his grave. His snow-shoes 
are still exhibited to the curious. Thus, with this 
individual, fell the last of the Indians of the Co- 
ossuc country, the fairy land of long slumbering 
generations. Ages hence the inquisitive Anglo 
Saxon will ponder upon the existence of such a 
race, and wonder why they have become extinct. 

Not only has the Indian passed away, but our 
ancestors, who bore the burden and conflict of 
pioneers to this then wild and barbarous land, are 
also fast . going to their eternal rest. Almost 
every passing gale sighs over another veteran's 
grave, and moans a sad but instructive requiem. 
But a wild country was snatched from barbarism 
and converted into a paradise. Where nature 
slept in her loneliness, towns and cultivated fields 
and gardens have smiled into being. 

Imagination cannot outstrip reality when it con- 
templates our destiny as a people. Science is 
exalting, and labor and art are adorning this land 
which religion has sancitified and liberty has re- 
deemed. 

The church and the school-house, Christianity 
and education, were among the first objects that 
received the attention and care of our ancestors in 
this section of America. Therefore in retrospec- 
tion do we behold that, while in other parts the 
accumulation of wealth was the all absorbing 
object, here education, the mental and moral im- 
provement of man, received the greater attention. 
Instead of worshiping the god of mammon, ' 'seek 
first the kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added," was the 
promise upon which our fathers relied. While a 
De Witt Clinton would construct a canal' to in- 
crease the wealth of his State, a Wheelock would 
found a college for the promotion of learning in 
the Connecticut valley. 

But do not suppose that our people are indiffer- 
ent toward the advantages of wealth. Having 

59 



466 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

provided for man's intellectual improvement, they 
are now devoting a portion of their energies to the 
advancement of his worldly gains. The whole 
length of this valley is to be coursed by a railroad, 
that its rich and abundant products may be trans- 
ported to every clime, and the luxuries of the 
world secured in exchange. Even now, as I write, 
do I behold numerous muscular and brawny arms 
busily plying pick- axe and spade in the construc- 
tion of the great highway, the Passumpsic Rail- 
road, which will soon be traversed by the iron 
horse, in his giant strength and lightning speed, 
from one extremity to the other. 

Thus does civilization, with such concomitants 
as are conducive to the happiness of man, progress 
in this Heaven-favored community. 

Travel the world over, and I venture to say 
there is not to be found a more intelligent, virtu- 
ous, industrious and happy people than are the 
citizens of. whom I write. Free, frank, generous 
and kind, no suffering poor are found among them. 
No pride or aristocracy of wealth is allowed to 
break up their social intercourse, but each mingles 
in the others' society, and respect is commanded 
by industry, intelligence and moral worth. The 
indolent, the ignorant and the vicious, (happily 
such are few,) alone call forth the scorn or pity of 
these people. Here "religion, liberty and law" 
find a congenial abode. The germ wafted over 
the ocean in the tempest-tossed May-Flower has 
here struck a deep root and is raising its high 
head to the clouds. 

"Long in its shade shall children's children come, 
And welcome earth's poor wanderers to a home ; 
Long shall it live and every blast defy, 
Till time's last whirlwind sweeps the vaulted sky." 

Bradford Vt, 1847. 



AZRO B. P. HILDRETH. 467 

From the Green Mountain Gem. 

THE DYING WISH. 

Several years since, a fine enterprising young 
man went out from one of our ports on a long voy- 
age as a common sailor in a whale ship. He was 
a noble specimen of the intelligent, frank-hearted, 
honest and industrious New Englander. He re- 
turned in the course of three or four years, and his 
ship had been remarkably successful. By degrees 
he so won the confidence of his employers that he 
became master and part owner of one of the finest 
whale ships that made its way across the trackless 
deep. During his perilous wanderings, by night 
and by day, on the ocean, for years together, 
there was one star that ever beamed upon his vis- 
ion, lighting him on to success, and guiding him 
safely to his destined haven. He had left among 
the green hills of Vermont a fair young girl, who 
was intelligent and interesting beyond the most of 
her sex. He remembered her as a sweet vision of 
his childhood, and her letters were his solace and 
delight during his long years of wandering. 

How well this sailor loved this young girl whom 
he had left in her Green Mountain home; how 
eagerly he flew to her the moment his foot touched 
the shore, upon his return, need not be told. He 
married her, and, leaving her in her quiet village, 
he started on what he determined should be his 
last voyage. He had become wealthy, and among 
other turns of his good fortune had purchased a 
lot of land at San Francisco, California, which 
now was becoming literally worth its weight in 
gold. He returned from his last voyage during 
the past winter, fitted up his ship in superb style, 
and with his devoted wife sailed for California. 
We refer to Capt. B. Simmons, of the Magnolia, 
and his wife who was a daughter of Oel Billings 
Esq., and sister of Frederick Billings, of Wood- 
stock, Vermont. Soon after their arrival at San 
Francisco, Mrs. Simmons was attacked with a 



468 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

fever. She sank under the disease and died in 
about two weeks. 

The yearnings of the dying wife for her native 
hills, while feeble and pining away at such a dis- 
tance from home may well be imagined by those 
who knew her character. Though cheered by the 
presence of her husband, and brother Frederick, 
home, with its pleasant scenes and associations, 
among the Green Mountains, was ever before her. 
In her last hours there was an incident which 
beautifully shows how devotedly the heart of wo- 
man clings to the loved and cherished scenes of 
childhood. It is given in the following extract 
from a letter written by one who stood by her bed 
when dying: 

' 'When she became conscious of the near ap- 
proach of death, she called her husband and 
brother to her bedside, and told them that she did 
not wish to have strangers perform the last offices 
to her person, but selected the lady friends whom 
she wished to do so. Capt. Simmons asked her if 
there was anything in his power that he could do 
for her. She replied: 'Yes, I desire that you 
may not make the acquisition of wealth your chief 
concern, but lay up treasures in heaven. You 
may be blest with wealth; if you are. so, do not 
forget the poor of our native village, Woodstock. 
I have another wish — a vain and foolish wish — I 
ought not to express it, for it is weakness, folly. 
It can, I know, make no difference as to the man- 
ner in which my body is disposed of after death — 
but may I say it? I could wish that I might lie in 
our little churchyard, by the side of my brother 
Edward.' Capt. S., his manly and generous voice 
stifled and choked with grief, replied, 'If I live, 
Laura, your wish shall be complied with.' 'How 
grateful I am,' said the dying wife. 'Only think, 
Frederick, ' addressing her brother, k how kind Mr. 
Simmons is; he says I shall be buried in our pretty 
little churchyard, by the side of brother Edward. ' 

But death was gathering upon her, and as the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 469 

dark shadows gathered around her, the dying 
saint, with angelic sweetness, remarked, 'This, 
then, is the dark valley; why, it is not so dark, 
after all. ' In a little while, composing her arms 
upon her breast, she passed through the 'dark 
valley' to that bourn from whence no traveler has 
returned, and to which the consecutive genera- 
tions of men are hastening/' 
December, 184-9. 



From the Green Mountain Gem. 

THE BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE. 

. How the spirit of a man of fine feeling and sus- 
ceptibilities loves the beautiful in nature! To him 
the murmurs of a streamlet, as it rolls through 
some lovely vale, are like the whispers from the 
spirit land, where the dear departed breathe a life 
of eternal youth. He reclines on a moss bank, 
under the shade of a weeping willow, its long 
hangers forming a golden canopy above him. 
The zephyr comes and touches them; they mur- 
mur; then all is still again. There was something 
in that sound which calmed, and yet amazed him. 
He was alone in the still wood, by the shore of his 
native stream. Whence then that strain, which 
seemed like the melting echoes from the lips of 
the departed? Oh, there it is again! and as his 
eyes are raised to catch a glimpse of his unseen 
visitant, again the zephyr comes — and from the 
bosom of the weeper go forth notes of almost un- 
earthly music, so low and yet so distinct, so sad 
and yet so soothing. It is but one of the voices 
with which nature speaks. To the gross and sen- 
sual mind it is meaningless, but to him it breathes 
the very soul of memory, tenderness and love. 

Thus it is with the flowers that are strown so 
plentifully along our pathway. Many tread upon 
them, and crush out their sweet life, without one 
thought of what they are or what they mean. To 
such they have no beauty, and the fragrance 



470 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

which they send up as a welcome to man, passes 
by them and mingles with the upper air. 

Not so with the man of feeling. His heart is 
pained at beholding the insensibilities of his fel- 
lows. They tread unrelentingly on the flowers he 
loves. Coming often, he gathers them with great 
care, for they recall the image of many a flower 
of female loveliness, crushed in its clinging, con- 
fiding tenderness and love, by some ruthless hand. 
He beholds them, and weeps for fallen humanity. 
To him every blossoming thing on this wide earth 
speaks of some corresponding human feeling or 
passion. Their offices are almost as numberless 
as the offices of thought. They tell of hope, joy, 
peace, meekness, confidence, love, — and of sor- 
row, weeping and bitterness. They bloom for the 
early dead, and on the grass-covered graves they 
breathe their young lives away. 

Flowers deck the conqueror's bier; they crown 
the festive hall; they circle the brow of beauty; 
they lie over the temple of the heart, and guard 
its secret entrance. They do yet more. They 

— "have tales of the joyous wood to tell" 

to the lonely captive; and yet more. In the song 
of England's poetess: 

"Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer, 
They are nature's offering, their place is there ! 
They speak of hope to the fainting heart ; 
With a voice of comfort they come and part ; 
They sleep in dust through the wintry hours ; 
They break forth in glory, — bring flowers, bring flowers !" 

As a man of fine feelings and susceptibilities 
loves the beautiful in nature, so will he love the 
beautiful wherever he finds it. There is a life-like 
power in language which, when it clothes those 
tender thoughts awakened by nature's scenery, 
often lends freshness to the original picture, and 
breathes over the whole an immortality of feeling. 

A. B. F. H. 

Bradford, Vt., June, 1850. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 471 

From the Vermcxnt Family Gazette. 

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 

Washington, D. C, March 3, 1849. 

Dear Gazette: Agreeably to promise I transmit 
such news and other information as I have been 
able to gather. I arrived here yesterday and had 
no difficulty in finding comfortable and pleasant 
lodgings, although the city is hourly filling up by 
hundreds and thousands. As I approached the 
capital the tide of travel constantly increased. 
Owing to the vast numbers of people on the way 
to witness the inauguration ceremonies, there was 
more or less delay and inconvenience, and numer- 
ous were the imprecations heaped upon the heads 
of' the conductors and masters of the different rail- 
roads and steamboats. Much depends on a pas- 
senger taking care of himself and keeping in a 
quiet mood. As for myself, I had no difficulty, 
and came through very comfortably. We had 
some pick-pockets on our train, and one of them, 
Bill Henderson, an English burglar and pick- 
pocket, was arrested in the act of pulling some 
bank bills from a gentleman's pocket-book, at 
Baltimore, just as we were starting for Washing- 
ton. Being lodged in prison, it is thought he will 
not find it convenient to attend the inauguration 
on Monday. 

Since my arrival here I have busied myself in 
looking about the capitol, observing the proceed- 
ings of the two Houses of Congress, examining 
the objects of interest in the various Government 
buildings, &c. In the National Gallery in the 
Patent Office building, I found a better museum of 
curiosities than any other I ever witnessed. 

The collections made by the United States 
South Sea Exploring Expedition are invaluable. 
The various and numerous presents that have 
been given to our officers of Government by differ- 
ent foreign powers, — the collections of beasts, 
birds and reptiles, — the numerous superb speci- 



472 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

mens of painting and sculpture, and a vast multi- 
tude of other objects, not to mention the best of 
models of inventions there, — all excited the liveli- 
est interest in the hundreds of visitors present 

I ought to mention that I saw the identical print- 
ing press at which Benjamin Franklin wrought, 
when a journeyman printer in London. It is a 
wooden Ramage press, of the earliest and simplest 
construction, and bears evident marks of having 
seen long and arduous service. In the General 
Postoffice I saw the original book of postoffice 
records, kept by Dr. Franklin, our first Postmas- 
ter General. The entries were all in the Doctor's 
own handwriting, and will not suffer in compari- 
son with those of any of our modern chirographers 
and accountants. 

This afternoon I had the pleasure of an intro- 
duction to Gen. Taylor, and his daughter, Mrs. 
Col. Bliss. The Colonel was absent at the time. 
Their quarters are at Willard's Hotel, near the 
White House. The President-elect reached Wash- 
ington on Friday of last week, and has been visit- 
ed, since Saturday, by several public bodies, com- 
mittees and deputations, who have been most 
courteously received, and with all that frankness 
and urbanity which characterize the distinguished 
individual who is on the eve of being inaugurated 
President of this free and happy Republic. In 
the course of the week many citizens have also 
paid their respects to Gen. Taylor, while a much 
greater number have reserved their visits and 
respects to a future opportunity. 

Gen. Taylor's bearing is neither haughty nor 
assuming. He is plain old "Rough and Ready," 
and nobody else. All who saw him were highly 
pleased with the plainness and frankness of his 
manner and his general appearance. Those who 
speak lightly of him, or seek to detract from his 
great merits as a statesman or a soldier, are only 
those whose jaundiced vision is unable to behold 
real worth in any one differing from them in polit- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 473 

ical opinion. Plainness and simplicity of manners 
is the acme of good breeding. A fussy or formal 
manner belongs to "would-be-greats/' "Courte- 
sy," says Montaigne, "is like grace and beauty; it 
begets regard, and an inclination to love one at 
first sight, and is the very beginning of an ac- 
quaintance." Pride of air and manner is the cer- 
tain mark of fools, but pride of mind is the char- 
acteristic of men of honor. The freedom and ease 
with which Gen. Taylor receives his visitors di- 
vests them at once of all embarrassment, and they 
feel as if in the presence of an old .and familiar 
friend. He is in the best of spirits, and will not 
be easily killed off by office- seekers and false 
friends. 

I' was particularly pleased with one little inci- 
dent that occurred during my visit. Three gen- 
tlemen came in and were introduced to the Gener- 
al. Said one of them: "We are plain, hard 
working farmers from Pennsylvania." "Ah," said 
the General, "I must look out for you; I have a 
special regard for the agriculturalists." "Just 
so," replied one, "encourage us and we will see 
that you have provisions enough to carry you 
through four years, at least." 

The wife of Gen. Taylor was ill from the fatigue 
of her journey, and found it necessary to keep her 
room. Mrs. Bliss, however, does not appear 
much the worse for the long journey she has had, 
and receives the ladies at the hand of her father, 
(to whom they are first introduced,) with all his 
simplicity and her charming grace. She is about 
eighteen or twenty years of age, medium size, ele- 
gant figure, and rather handsome, — sufficiently so 
to be intellectual, as she evidently is. 

Mr. Polk will vacate the White House this eve- 
ning, and Gen. Taylor will take possession of it 
on Monday. On Tuesday eve it is expected that 
he will give a grand levee. From Kentucky to 
Washington Gen. Taylor was accompanied by Col. 
James Taylor and Miss Taylor, of Kentucky; Miss 

60 



474 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Peyton, of Louisiana; Mr. Christy, Mrs. Christy, 
Miss Wyckliffe and Miss Johnson, of Kentucky. 

H. 



Washington. March 8, 1849. 

Dear Gazette: This city still continues to be 
crowded with citizens from all parts of the Union, 
a moderate proportion only of whom appear to be 
office-seekers. Democrats and ultra Clay men are 
few and far between. Yesterday afternoon Penn- 
sylvania Avenue was crowded with beauty and 
fashion, the ladies improving the first fine weather 
we have had for ten or twelve days. The cabinet 
officers, nominated by the President and confirmed 
by the Senate yesterday, give very general satis- 
faction. All of them are*well known to the Whig 
party as true and able men, and all were in favor 
of the nomination of Gen. Taylor to the Presi- 
dency in preference to either of his competitors 
before the National Convention. 

The compliment paid to the State of Vermont, 
(called by the Whigs "the star that never sets,") 
by the selection of Jacob Collamer as Postmaster 
General, is duly appreciated, not only by the Ver- 
monters now here, but by Whigs generally from 
other parts of the country. It is the first instance 
of a Cabinet appointment being bestowed on a cit- 
izen of Vermont. It is believed that Mr. Collamer 
will make a popular Postmaster General, but he 
will be called upon to make removals in all quar- 
ters. Gen. Taylor has said that the Democrats 
having held the offices for the last twenty years, 
he considers that long enough, and they ought 
now to be willing to vacate them. 

In conversation the President is far more 
"ready" than "rough," and always says the right 
word in the right place. He wears his spectacles 
on the top of his head, and his favorite position, 
when holding an interview w T ith a friend, is to 
place himself directly before you, knee to knee, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 475 

and eye to eye. His talk is always direct, earnest 
and to the point. In passing through a crowd he 
will, by a rapid glance of the eye, which has been 
trained to activity on the battlefield, recognize 
fifty acquaintances where an ordinary man would 
see "but a confused mass and naught distinctly." 
He reads men by intuition, and takes their meas- 
ure at a glance. 

Mr. Fitz Henry Warren, of Iowa, has been ap- 
pointed Second Assistant Postmaster General, 
vice W. J. Brown removed. Mr. Warren entered 
upon the duties of his office to-day. Major Hobbie, 
the able First Assistaut Postmaster General, will 
not be removed. Col. Bliss continues to act as 
Private Secretary to the President. Ex- Speaker 
Winthrop is spoken of as likely to get a foreign 
mission. H. 



New York City, March 13, 1849. 

Dear Gazette: Of all the cities of the Union 
give me New York. True, it is not the cleanest 
city in the world, nor the soberest, nor the most 
virtuous; but there are charms about New York 
that always make me attached to it. There is so 
much of every thing here that one must be dull in- 
deed if he cannot find something to his taste. This 
city is emphatically a great place to those who 
really and thoroughly know it in all its various 
ramifications. Thousands, however, pass their 
lives here from the cradle to the grave, without 
having acquired any thing beyond a moderate 
knowledge of the little circle with which they have 
been immediately connected. 

New York has beauties, advantages and virtues 
that are peculiar to it, and every little folly or 
frailty openly practised here is secretly followed 
in such sober-faced places as Boston or Philadel- 
phia. There is a spirit of lofty, manly independ- 
ence about the citizens here, — a justly contemptu- 
ous scorning of all impertinent, gossiping inter- 



476 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

ference in their private affairs, or social habits, 
that is truly refreshing. As a general thing the 
people attend to their own affairs, without med- 
dling with those of their neighbors. Those who 
seek to make themselves exceptions to this salu- 
tary rule are soon taught the propriety of comply- 
ing with it. 

Christians and infidels, cock-fighters, Quakers, 
Jews, and Ethiopian minstrels may live in the 
same block on the best of terms, and sometimes 
without having discovered or inquired into the 
belief or calling of each other. The natural and 
inevitable tendency of all this is to make people 
more reasonable and charitable in estimating the 
motives and conduct of those who think proper to 
differ with them, and nothing so enlarges the 
mind, and obliterates narrow prejudices, as an in- 
timate and extended personal acquaintance with 
all classes of the human family. 

But instead of moralizing, I presume the reader 
would prefer to have me give a synopsis of the 
current news of this busy Gotham. Well, let me 
begin with Bennett of the "Herald," for every one 
has heard of Bennett. The sheriff here empan- 
neled a jury last week whose duty it was to ascer- 
tain and declare the amount of damages done to 
the character of James Gordon Bennett by the 
publication of certain ' 'Caudle Lectures in the 
Black Mail Family," the said lectures having been 
written and published by Major Noah, the defend- 
ant in the suit. 

There was some curiosity to know how much, in 
cents or mills, Mr. Bennett's character could be 
damaged by the most inveterate malignity, — by a 
hatred as intense as Bennett's selfishness, and a 
vengefulness as absorbing as his heartlessness, — 
just how much the man upon whom Mr. Bennett 
had inflicted the deepest injury, could, "mounted 
on his injuries," pay him back, principal and in- 
terest, the debt of wrong that he owed him. The 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 477 

jury gave Mr. James Gordon Bennett six cents 
damages'! 

Let me next pay my respects to Col. Webb, who 
had all his arrangements made for Berlin. He 
had been studying high Dutch for the benefit of 
the corrupted aristocracy of Prussia, and had 
made his calculations for the summer months at 
Baden-Baden, and a September voyage up the 
Rhine. On the last night of the session of the 
Senate he was superseded by Mr. Hannegan, and 
he has delivered himself over to the Dutch for 
nothing. The funniest part of the transaction is, 
that the Whigs of the Senate assent to the super- 
sedeas, and that old Zack himself is supposed to 
have agreed to it, and Col. Polk had the power to 
enforce the appointment. The exact limits of his 
constitutional term had expired, — lie sent in Mr. 
Hannegan's nomination, — the general appropria- 
tion bill was yet to be signed; a rejection of Mr. 
Hannegan might have cost the Whigs the experi- 
ment of an extra session; and I venture to say the 
confirmation of Mr. Hannegan will be respected. 

Col. Webb has now turned his attention to the 
Spanish language. He muses on the bull-fights of 
Madrid, — on 

"The dark-eyed ladies 
Of the city of Cadiz," 

and on the ruins of Alhambra; on the pleasures of 
a summer excursion, at the public expense, among 
the guerrilleros of the Pyrenees, and the explora- 
tion of the subterranean excavations at Gibraltar. 
In short, Col. Webb now puts in his oar for the 
mission to Spain. Sour-krout or olives; sausages 
or oranges; it is all the same to him. 

There was a little paragraph in the "Sun" to- 
day which told a mournful story. Charles Penno 
Hoffman, the poet of the heart, and of all its gen- 
tle and kindly sentiments, is not just now with the 
the world, whose soul he warmed and drew nearer 
to himself, and perchance elevated above him and 



478 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

nearer to its great source. He is insane! If deep 
sympathy, which is unwritten and unspoken, and 
fervent prayer and invocation, can bring back the 
subtle elements which direct harmoniously and in 
order the action of a generous heart and noble 
brain, the poet Hoffman's lyre may yet breathe 
melodious music, and not as now 

"Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh." 

The famous elephant, which once caused such a 
sensation in Philadelphia, defying alike his keep- 
ers and the city government, has been causing an 
even greater sensation in New York. On Thurs- 
day evening he broke loose and commenced an 
investigation of the "mysteries of New Yo-k." 
After perambulating the streets for a while, much 
to his own enjoyment and the public consterna- 
tion, he entered a grocery store, — leaving the 
door open behind him, in consequence of the own- 
er having put him to the inconvenience of batter- 
ing it down before him, — but not liking the qual- 
ity of the liquors, after bespattering the proprie- 
tor for his incivility, he passed on. Demolishing 
some iron railing, as if it had been pipe- stems, to 
express his contempt for the unsubstantial char- 
acter of the New Yorkers, he sought to enter the 
Hoboken hotel. Although the door was soon de- 
molished, the granite pillars each side did not 
afford sufficient space for an entrance, and his 
keeper coming up just at that time, he allowed 
himself to be conducted back to his quarters, con- 
vinced that they were as good as any he could find 
in the city. The animal will now become as great 
a "lion" in New York as he was for a while in 
Philadelphia, — and no one can be considered fully 
"booked up" who has not "seen the elephant." 

A. B. F. H. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 479 

From the Vermont Family Gazette. 

HON. ISAAC HILL. 

Hon. Isaac Hill died at Washington, D. C, on 
Saturday, March 22d, 1851, aged 68 years. He 
was a native of Ashburnham, Mass., and was the 
son of a farmer. He was early apprenticed to the 
printing business in the office at Amherst, N. H. 
At the age of 21 years, with only a dollar in his 
pocket, he went to Concord and commenced the 
publication of the "New Hampshire Patriot." His 
industry was intense, his talent soon became man- 
ifest, and the enterprise succeeded. During the 
war with Great Britain the Patriot attained a 
larger circulation than any other interior paper 
ha.u received in New England. Its columns blazed 
with the steady fire of patriotism, and gave cour- 
age and animation to the supporters of the war. 
Before the close of the struggle, the name of Mr. 
Hill, as a printer and editor, was as well known 
as the names of our military chieftains. For 
many years afterwards he held unbounded sway 
over the political destinies of New Hampshire. 
He served as Senator in the Legislature of his 
State, and was also its Governor, and a Senator in 
Congress. He was promoted to the latter office 
on account of his nomination by the President as 
second Comptroller of the Treasury having been 
rejected by the Senate. In this we see the indom- 
itable energy and perseverance of the man. 

But at length his star waned. Perhaps it was 
his own fault, — perhaps because younger men be- 
came tired of waiting. He lost possession of his 
press, his pecuniary affairs became embarrassed, 
and his political influence was well nigh extin- 
guished. Though he never regained his political 
standing, yet he always adhered to "the party" 
which claimed to be Democratic. Though indus- 
trious and frugal, at his death he could not be re- 
garded as wealthy. He held the office of Pension 
Agent at Concord for some years, and at one time 
was sub-treasurer in Boston. 



480 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Latterly Mr. Hill has been much engaged in 
agriculture, and edited in a most able manner a 
monthly publication devoted to that object. In 
all the private and social relations of life he was 
kind and amiable. For several years he had been 
afflicted with asthma, which no doubt shortened 
his days. He leaves a wife and three sons, who 
were sent for from Washington and were present 
at his death. We knew him well and know where- 
of we affirm. a. b. f. h. 
Bradford, Vt, March 27, 1851. 



HOLYOKE WEEKLY MIRROR. 

EDITOKIAL. 

Kind Reader: Once more we take the editorial 
chair. As you are doubtless aware, some time since 
the proprietor of the "Holyoke Freeman" took 
possession of our column to announce that thence- 
forth the publication of the Freeman was suspend- 
ed, except under certain contingences not likely 
to occur. Since that time the town of Holyoke 
has had no newspaper of its own. We venture to 
say that no town ever felt such deprivation more 
sorely than this. 

Having devoted a large portion of our life to 
"the art preservative of all arts." and having sold 
out and retired from the business some time since, 
we designed not to engage in that particular voca- 
tion again. Since the suspension of our town 
paper our many friends have almost daily impor- 
tuned us to re-engage in the printing and news- 
paper business. We have at length yielded to 
their solicitations, and having bought out the 
Freeman establishment, once more we find our- 
self embarked in the hazardous and toilsome un- 
dertaking incident to the editing, printing and 
publishing business. In these combined pursuits 
we do not and cannot expect to give universal sat- 
isfaction. Certain it is, however, that we shall 
strive to do all things well; but we have long since 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 481 

learned that mankind are too fickle in their opinions 
and too diversified in their tastes and wishes to be 
permanently and entirely suited with the public 
labors of any one, especially an editor. We shall, 
however, be guided by the light of experience; 
and, while we cannot please all, we shall endeavor 
to suit at least one, — ourself. 

To those who know us it would seem a matter of 
supererogation to announce that the ''Mirror" will 
be a plain spoken, frank and independent sheet. 
It will aim to deal fairly and courteously with all; 
and while, in its political bearings, it will sustain 
the more prominent principles of the National 
Whig Party, it will endeavor to treat party poli- 
tics in such a manner as not to be justly offensive 
to any one. Moreover, a distinction should be 
made between politics and party politics. Politics 
has been beautifully defined to be ' 'the art of mak- 
ing a people happy," — and this certainly is a voca- 
tion worthy of the greater statesmen and philan- 
thropists. Not only will Whig politics receive 
our attention, but all politics; and especially in our 
own State of Massachusetts, where we have so 
much of the good thing, will the movements of all 
the various political parties be represented in our 
columns. But in our hands the Mirror cannot be 
a venal sheet, serving the mercenary purposes of 
any clique, party or sect. It will aim at a high 
and independent course; such, it is hoped, as shall 
render it a welcome visitor at every fireside, — in 
every domestic circle, — in every workshop, — in 
every counting room. 

The Mirror will be "held up to nature," or, in 
other words, it will seek to give a true reflection of 
men and things as they shall appear from week to 
week. It will strive to be fully up to the times of 
th\s fastly "progressive age," and keep its readers 
fully and promptly advised of whatever may be of 
local or general interest, whether of politics, liter- 
ature, news, the arts and sciences, "trade and 
commerce," &c. &c. It will thus be seen that, if 



482 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

by any untoward circumstances, we fail of suc- 
cess, we shall at least make the effort to merit it. 
January 7, 185 h 



HOLYOKE. 

Our new town of Holyoke is rapidly progressing 
in growth and prosperity. Business here the past 
season has been exceedingly good, and much more 
would have been done could men have been found 
to execute the work. Several millions of brick 
have been laid, and masons and carpenters have 
been in good demand. Several blocks of new 
brick tenements have been erected by the Hadley 
Falls Company, and many more are still needed to 
accommodate our rapidly increasing population. 
These will be built early the coming season. 

Holyoke is delightfully situated upon the west 
bank of the Connecticut river, directly opposite 
South Hadley Falls village, and eight miles north 
of Springfield. It is destined ere long to become 
the largest town in the valley of the Connecticut 
river; its waterpower being the largest and best 
in New England, and cannot long remain unim- 
proved. Indeed, we are assured by reliable au- 
thority that large additions to our manufacturing 
business will be made the coming season, This 
will add materially to our population, now num- 
bering about four thousand. The place has a rep- 
utation for being healthy beyond most of the sur- 
rounding towns, and assuredly holds out many 
rare inducements for the capitalist and business 
man to invest money here and make this his home. 
All who can add to the place wealth, business, in- 
dustry, morality and good influences, are cordial- 
ly invited to come. The dissolute and the vicious 
are not wanted. — Mirror. 



Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who 
never to himself hath said, I will the Holyoke 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 483 

Mirror take, both for my own and neighbor's sake? 
If such there be let him repent, and have the 
paper to him sent; and if he'd pass a happy win- 
ter, of course he'll pay at once the printer. — Ed. 
Mirror. 



"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" 

Civilization will not allow even the bones of the 
Indian to rest undisturbed. Workmen, while ex- 
cavating the canal of the Hadley Falls Company, 
just below the machine shop in this place, have 
exhumed the skulls and other bones of several 
Indians, who were found to have been buried 
there in a sitting posture, according to the custom 
of the aborigines. The recent freshet has also 
washed out from the bank of the river, in that 
vicinity, some Indians' bones, together with In- 
dian implements, such as a mortar and pestle, a 
wooden bowl ornamented with hieroglyphics, (?) a 
stone hatchet, arrow heads, &c. What a train of 
thought is called up by these mementoes of a past 
generation! The days of the red man are num- 
bered. No more will he worship the Great Spirit 
as seen in the sublime waterfall of Old Hadley; 
and no more will he there fish for shad and sal- 
mon! The phrenologists of the cquntry will please 
not flock to the spot in pursuit of ''specimens" to 
illustrate their craniological science. Leave those 
bones alone! — Holyoke Mirror, May 15, 185 Jf. 



From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY IN HOLYOKE. 
July 4, 1854. 

Tuesday was a proud and happy day for Hol- 
yoke. The arrangements which had been made 
by our citizens, through their efficient and active 
committees for celebrating in an appropriate man- 
ner the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Inde- 



484 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

pendence of the United States, were ample and 
complete. The day was ushered in by the boom- 
ing of cannon and the ringing of bells. The sun 
soon peered over the hills, casting his benign rays 
over valley and plain, giving assurance that we 
were to be blessed, as we were, with his smiles of 
approbation. The streets were early thronged 
with spectators, all ready and willing to enjoy 
whatever there might be to be seen or heard. 
They did not wait long, for at about seven o'clock 
a unique company denominated the "Holyoke In- 
dependent Order of Antiquarians," numbering 
about seventy, made their appearance on the 
streets. No language can convey a correct idea 
of the grotesque characters which the different 
members assumed. They had their Marshals, 
President, Chaplain, Orator, Poet, &c, two bands 
of music, a triumphal car, drawn by six oxen 
driven with reins-in-hand tied to their horns; and 
there were also in the procession various carriages, 
horses and donkeys of the most ancient years and 
uncouth appearance. The affair was planned and 
executed with consummate skill, and was through- 
out by far the best burlesque upon a Fourth of 
July Celebration ever witnessed in this region. 

At precisely ten o'clock, A. M. , the Chief Mar- 
shal and his assistants made up the procession, 
which was lengthy and was composed of all class- 
es. They at once took up their line of march 
through the various streets to the grove where 
the exercises were held. Here the Marshal com- 
mitted the gathered multitude to the care of the 
President of the day, who made a short address 
and proceeded with the regular programme of ex- 
ercises. The singing of the children of the sev- 
eral schools, next preceding the oration, was 
accompanied by the band and joined in by the cit- 
izens generally. The effect was most enchanting. 

Next came the oration by Timothy Bigelow of 
Boston. We took no notes of the oration, and 
have neither time nor space to give anything like 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 485 

an adequate synopsis of it. It is not saying too 
much to state that it surpassed all expectations. 
As a literary effort it was polished, classical and 
eloquent; and the delivery of it was in the best 
style of oratory. Very much of it was of a local 
character, adapted especially to the origin and 
growth of Holyoke, and forcibly called to mind 
the enterprise and prosperity of the people of this 
section of Massachusetts, as well as of the country 
at large. Allusion was made to our beautiful 
landscape scenery, — our rivers and mountains, 
valleys and plains, — to our common schools and 
higher seminaries of learning, — to our early his- 
tory when the pioneer settlers had to contend for 
their lives with the wily savages, — and a glowing 
contrast was given between the period when the 
red man chased the deer upon our nountains, 
caught shad and salmon from our river, and culti- 
vated his patches of maize, and the present time, 
when the mountains are covered with lowing 
herds, the river is made to toil in our workshops, 
and every thing and everybody are busy with the 
hum of industry. For an hour and a quarter the 
gifted orator held the attention of that vast audi- 
ence in almost breathless silence, and when his 
peroration was pronounced they seemed to be 
still feeding upon his words. We have heard but 
one sentiment expressed in regard to Mr. Bige- 
low's oration, and that is in terms of unmeasured 
praise. 

When the exercises had closed at the stand the 
audience formed in procession again, under direc- 
tion of , the Chief Marshal, and marched to the 
pavillion where an excellent repast had been gra- 
tuitously provided for members of the various 
Sabbath Schools and citizens generally. 

After satisfying the wants of the physical man 
an intellectual repast was had of toasts and 
speeches, the band at intervals discoursing some 
of its sweetest music. Rev. Richard Knight, pas- 
tor of the Congregational church, officiated as 



486 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

toast-master. When the Press was announced. 
A. B. F. Hildreth was called upon to respond, and 
spoke as follows: 

Mr. President: While I thank you for the com- 
pliment paid to the Press, I have to regret that 
some one more competent to respond is not called 
upon instead of me. I am aware that the Press 
has done, is doing, and is destined to do wonders 
for our country and the world. When I reflect 
upon the beneficent changes which have been 
wrought through the agency of the Press, since 
the invention of the art of printing, some four 
hundred years ago, language fails me to describe 
them. At about that time Dr. Faustus, in Ger- 
many, first printed the Bible with movable types. 
He carried his Bibles to Paris for sale. The 
Monks, who sold Bibles in manuscript, and had 
hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of the trade, took 
the alarm. They saw at once that 

"Othello's occupation's gone," 

and raised the cry that Dr. Faustus must be 
leagued with the devil, else he could not multiply 
his Bibles so rapidly and have them so exactly 
alike. The poor man had to flee for his life. 
From this circumstance every printer down to the 
present day has been charged with having a devil. 
But, sir, a greater than your servant, or Dr. Faus- 
tus, even, has been similarly accused. Some poet 
has said: 

"Three things bear mighty sway with men, 
The press, the pulpit and the pen." 

The usefulness of the pen, whether employed by 
the one or the other, will be conceded. That the 
pulpit "bears mighty sway with men," we all ad- 
mit. But I ask you, Mr. President, what would 
either be able to accomplish, comparatively, were 
it not for the Press? What would the devoted 
missionary of the cross be able to accomplish, as 
he goes to convey the "glad tidings of the ever- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 487 

lasting gospel" to those of heathen lands, were it 
not for the Press? Then there are your common 
schools, your colleges and higher seminaries of 
learning, ay, and the Sunday schools also. What 
could they do without the Press? Who but they 
of the Press furnish the student of classic lore 
with his text books? Who but they of the Press 
furnish these little children with their A B C's. 
And these Sabbath school teachers, who have the 
holier mission of pointing the youthful mind from 
the sordid things of earth to pure and heavenly 
scenes beyond the skies, — what would they be 
able to accomplish were it not for the Press? 

Sir, I remember, as it were but yesterday, the 
first verses of scripture that I committed to mem- 
ory and repeated in the Sunday School; and also 
the little Sunday School book which I received as 
a ''reward of merit." I perused and re-perused 
it, — examined its typography and pictures, — and 
felt richer in the possession of it than the miser 
does with his bags of gold. Let the Sabbath 
School scholar go out into the world and become 
ever so depraved in after life, there will come to 
him in moments of calm meditation pleasing mem- 
ories of his early youth, and, if poor frail human 
nature can rally, he will yet be saved and become 
a man. That the Press is an engine of power no 
one can deny. Nearly all the great enterprises of 
the day are more or less indebted to it for their 
success. Many aspiring little men have been 
made great through the agency of the Press. But 
editors are proverbially modest men; and while 
they have made the fame and fortune of thou- 
sands, comparatively few have done either for 
themselves. As Tom Hood would say — 

" 'Tis not exactly the thing, 'we' know it, 
To raise our own trumpet and blow it." 

Mr. President, time will not allow me to allude 
further to the beneficent influences of the Press, 
but you will pardon me if I suggest that it has 



488 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

contributed somewhat toward the success of this 
excellent celebration, which all have enjoyed so 
much. The formation of new acquaintances and 
the cementing of past friendships, to say nothing 
of the amusement and instruction afforded, are 
among its happy results. How admirably do we 
fulfill the imagined prophesy of the elder Adams 
when advocating the Declaration of American In- 
dependence: '-We shall make this a glorious, an 
immortal day. When we are in our graves our 
children will honor it. They will celebrate it with 
thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires and 
illuminations. On its annual return they will shed 
tears, — copious, gushing tears, — not of subjection 
and slavery, — not of agony and distress, — but of 
exultation, of gratitude and joy." 

But I am consuming time, Mr. President, and 
will close with the words of the poet: 

"May the pen and press assist mankind 
To make a conquest of the mind." 

When the exercises upon the ground had closed, 
the people dispersed to meet again in the evening 
and witness the exhibition of fire works, prepared 
by Mr. J. G. Hovey, the eminent pyrotechnist of 
Boston. 



[Note. — It is proper to state in regard to this Holyoke cele- 
bration that Mr. Hildreth was instigator and prime mover of it. 
The committee of arrangements authorized him to go to Bos- 
ton and engage an orator for the day, and also purchase fire- 
works for the evening. He was successful in both cases. Tim- 
othy Bigelow was known to be a popular public speaker, and 
on calling at his office Mr. H. was informed that Mr. Bigelow 
was absent from the city, but fortunately met his mother there. 
This lady was a sister of Abbott Lawrence, once United States 
Minister to England. She invited Mr. Hildreth home to dinner, 
and while there the son returned. When the Holyoke celebra- 
tion was mentioned, Mr. Bigelow at first declined to go there 
to deliver the oration, — but after farther conversation the 
mother remarked : "Tim shall go," and go he did, to the great 
satisfaction of all interested parties. The fire- works, which 
Mr. Hildreth purchased, were greatly admired by the vast con- 
course of people who witnessed them, and were pronounced far 
superior to any similar display ever witnessed in Holyoke.] 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 489 

'THE OLD ARM CHAIR." 

Somebody in Holyoke, Mass. , having the fear 
of God before his eyes, and, in obedience to the 
great law of love, regarding his neighbor as him- 
self, has sent brother Hildreth of the "Mirror" an 
arm chair for his sanctum. Such a man ought to 
be placed in a cabinet of his own making, as a 
true sample of the genus homo. "The lines have 
fallen to thee in pleasant places," brother Hil- 
dreth, and the paper, whose editor is thus remem- 
bered and cared for, shows the influence of con- 
tented feelings, else how could it be so full of 
sparkling interest? — Vergennes, (Vt.) Independent. 

You are right, brother Judd. We do not allow 
the: equanimity of our feelings to be disturbed by 
trifles. Having the ardor and expectation of ear- 
lier days somewhat chastened and subdued, with 
few regrets for the past, and little solicitude for 
the future, we probably enjoy as much of life as 
falls to the lot of mankind in general. But our 
object in copying the paragraph was to show our 
friend Quint how a fraternal sympathy has called 
forth grateful expressions in his behalf from a 
brother editor so far away. Were it not for the 
distance, we cannot doubt that our Vergennes 
brother would be made equally happy with our- 
selves through the benevolent promptings of Mr. 
Quint's liberal heart. "In doing good there is 
great reward." — Ed. Mirror. 

Note. — That editorial arm-chair is now used by Mr. Hildreth 
in his sitting-room. — Ed. 



EDITORS AND PRINTERS MEETING. 

The Association of Editors and Printers of West- 
ern Massachusetts held their annual meeting at 
the American House in Springfield on Wednesday, 
January 17th, the anniversary of Franklin's birth- 
day. Nearly all the members of the Association 



490 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

were present. The afternoon was spent in the 
discussion of business affairs and exchange of in- 
formation on subjects of mutual interest. In the 
evening" an excellent supper, laid in the best style 
of Mr. Adams of the American House, and presid- 
ed over by Dr. J. G. Holland of the Springfield 
Republican, was partaken of with hearty zest. 
Thanks were voted the retiring officers for the 
"able and efficient manner in which they had dis- 
charged their duties," when Mr. Chickering of 
North Adams, the retiring President, responded 
in a neat and pertinent speech. At eight o'clock 
the company separated, cheered and refreshed by 
the incidents of the occasion. The officers elected 
for the year 1855 were: President — C. J. J. Inger- 
soll of Greenfield; Vice President — A. B. P. Hil- 
dreth of Holyoke; Secretary — J. R. Trumbull of 
Northampton; Treasurer— Sam'l Bowles of Spring- 
field. Standing Committees were appointed on 
Advertising; Job Printing; Labor; Prices, &c. 
Mr. Bowles was appointed on the Committee on 
Advertising, and Mr. Hildreth was placed upon 
the Committee on Job Printing. — Holyoke Mirror, 
Jan. 20, 1855. 



EARLY DAYS. 

How many reminiscences of "days that were" 
rose up from the "dark backward abysm of time" 
as we read the following passage in a familiar 
epistle from an old friend and fellow student: "I 
rode yesterday through the 'Hollow' and close by 
the old church; and my heart filled with boyhood's 
memories as I looked upon its well-preserved, re- 
vered frame, — its wooden columns, — its gilded 
weather-cock, and its tin-tipped spire. Fullness 
of heart swelled to overflowing as I looked behind 
it upon the gray walls of our dear old academy, 
and upon that row of locust trees, now picturesque 
and strong with age, that were but pliant saplings 
when you and I, and Charlie, and some who are 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 491 

better now than we are, used to bat the ball and 
play at quoits upon the Green. I stopped instinct- 
ively, and waited there an hour. I heard again 
the bell that used to call us to our morning task. 
I looked upon the hills on which we spent our hol- 
idays. There was the same old orchard, and the 
trees that H — used to guard, and from which in 
spite of his watching we used to bear our golden 
stores. Oh! I could almost hear the voices and 
almost see the faces of those we may never hear 
or see again. And as I turned away my heart 
could not suppress the prayer that we may all 
meet again with fresher, gladder feeling, in that 
changeless world where youth will be immortal, 
and even to enter which we must renew the child- 
hood of the soul again and 'become as little child- 
dren/ '•' — Mirror. 



From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. 

SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

We have often wished that school teachers 
would use greater endeavors to make practical men 
and women of their pupils. Of what avail is the- 
ory unless it can be carried out in practice? What 
does it amount to for scholars to repeat the abbre- 
viations, the sounds of letters, the pauses, &c. , at 
recitations, if they are to remain totally ignorant 
of their practical use? We have experienced 
much annoyance and mortification in our day on 
account of the woful and persistent ignorance in 
these particulars of the help we have had occasion 
to employ in our office. A slight knowledge of 
English grammar would often save compositors, 
as well as other's, from making themselves ridicu- 
lous. For instance, they might possibly be 
brought to write or put in type a plural noun with- 
out giving it the form of the possessive case, a 
distinction which to many persons is wholly un- 
known. Of what use are schools if they are not 
to train our youth for the duties of active life? 



492 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Then, instead of going through the arithmetic by 
rote, direct the scholar to measure and estimate 
the value of a pile of wood, a pile of boards, a 
quantity of grain, &c. ; let him compose a letter 
addressed to a friend, or write an essay on some 
familiar subject, and be made to understand the 
use and application of the abbreviations, the 
pauses, the rules of grammar; while at the same 
time due regard is had to the orthography and 
chirography of his lesson. We say, let the teach- 
ers proceed in this way with their pupils and some 
practical good may result from their labors. But 
some teachers are lamentably ignorant themselves 
in these particulars. Even graduates from col- 
lege, who boast of their knowledge of Latin and 
Greek, cannot pass an examination in a-b-abs! 
Let such teachers be at once discharged and set to 
sawing wood or be put under the tutelage of a 
competent instructor, but never intrust to them 
the education of youth. The "mother tongue" 
and "chimney corner talk" should never be in- 
dulged in by a teacher in the hearing of his schol- 
ars; and on all occasions should a teacher of youth 
be exemplary in his habits. 



LIBRARY MEETING. 

Pursuant to a call made by thirty citizens of 
Holyoke, a meeting was held in Exchange Hall on 
Monday evening, Jan. 22, 1855, to take measures 
for the establishment of a public reading room, 
library, &c. The meeting was organized by elect- 
ing Rev. J. W. Ford, President; and A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, Secretary. The objects of the meeting 
were stated by the chairman, who briefly alluded 
to the wants of the community in respect to a read- 
ing room, library, opportunity for literary exer- 
cises, &c. , and the salutary influences such privi- 
leges would have upon the character and habits of 
the people. 

W. B. C. Pearsons, Esq. , gave a history of a 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 493 

former library or lyceum association, which com- 
menced under nattering auspices, nourished for a 
while, and finally went down because of the inno- 
vation of so-called popular lectures, which were 
thought to be a little more genteel and fashionable. 

Lester Newell, Esq., corroborated the remarks 
of Mr. Pearsons, and proffered his hearty co-opera- 
tion in the work of carrying forth the objects of 
the proposed association; but if it was to be a 
mongrel concern, and as abortive as was the 
course of lectures last season he would have noth- 
ing to do with it. He was unwilling to appropri- 
ate money for paying gentlemen from abroad to 
Come and tickle us for an hour, take our money, 
and leave us without a single new or original idea. 
We had plenty of men at home able enough and 
good enough to entertain and instruct us, and he 
went for encouraging home talent. 

Rev. James French expressed his cordial co-ope- 
ration in the objects of the meeting, and would 
do what he could to encourage the enterprise. 

J. M. Cavanaugh, Esq. , announced himself ready 
to lend a helping hand, either by taking part in 
debates and other exercises, or in the contribution 
of books or money. On his motion a committee 
was appointed to perfect arrangements for the 
reading room, library, &c. , consisting of W. B. C. 
Pearsons, J. W. Ford, James French, Porter Un- 
derwood, and A. B. F. Hildreth. 

Mr. Newell made a spirited address, calculated 
to arouse the people to the importance of the un- 
dertaking, and in the effort he was aided by re- 
marks from Dr. Underwood, Mr. Pearsons, and 
also by the Chairman, when the meeting ad- 
journed. 

The large number in attendance at the meeting 
proved that much interest was taken in its objects, 
and all seemed sanguine of success. — Mirror. 



494 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

SECTIONAL FEELING. 

There is no feeling against which the citizens 
of the United States should more sedulously guard 
than that which would arrogate for the people of 
a particular section social preference, or beget an 
exclusiveness, which would say: "I am holier 
than thou." If ever there is a disseverance of this 
Union such a feeling will be found one of the 
principal causes of it. Indeed, it is that which 
even now lies at the bottom of many of the differ- 
ences existing between the people of different sec- 
tions of this country, in a political point of view. 
Among many who would disclaim all aristocratic 
feeling there is yet a pride of lineage which 
prompts them to treat others of less hereditary 
pretensions with coldness and often with disre- 
gard. "I am of the chivalry of the South," per- 
haps a "son of the Old Dominion," or "from Old 
Kaintuck," or "I am a descendant of the Pil- 
grims," are expressions which frequently settle, 
in the minds of those who use them, all claims to 
preference of standing and respectability. This 
should not be. We should know each other as 
Americans, and it seems to us that the American 
feeling, the conservative principle, without which 
this nation could not long exist, pervades but 
faintly the breasts of those who would nurture the 
distinctions we have referred to. — Holyoke Mirror. 



JAMES WILSON. 

We regret to learn that James Wilson, the first 
globe maker in America, is dead. He died at his 
home in Bradford, Vt., March 26, 1855, at the ripe 
age of ninety-two years. From an obituary notice 
by Rev. Silas McKeen of that place we gather the 
following particulars: Mr. Wilson was a native 
of Londonderry, N. H., and of the Scotch -Irish 
race; a man of strong mind, and distinguished for 
being the maker of the first artificial globes ever 
produced in America. He at first engraved his 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 495 

plates and did all the work himself, at his shop in 
Bradford; but afterwards, by the aid of his sons, 
he carried on the business extensively in Albany, 
N. Y. When over eighty years of age he made 
with his own hands a Planetarium, which finely 
illustrated the revolutions of the earth, bringing 
day and night, with the regular changes of the 
seasons. He took great pleasure in philosophical 
and astronomical studies, and by the aid of his 
books and his own observations, had made highly 
creditable proficiency, without the aid of other 
teachers. Being strictly temperate in his habits, 
and keeping his mind always at work, he retained 
both his physical and intellectual powers admira- 
bly to the great age of ninety-two years, and was 
altogether himself to the last. Parker's history 
of Londonderry. N. H., gives an account of this 
remarkable man. — Holyoke Mirror. 



From the Holyoke Mirror. 

"LIFE LET US CHERISH. " 

As the season for ruralizing is at hand we beg 
to say to denizens of the cities, as well as others, 
that few places of resort for the enjoyment of 
pure air, delightful scenery, sports and pastimes, 
present greater attractions than our "new city" of 
Holyoke. Ample and unrivaled accommodations 
are afforded by our hotel keepers, whether to 
transient or permanent boarders, and it is believed 
that no one seeking health or pleasure need regret 
the spending of more or less time among us. In 
close proximity are those far-famed elevations, 
Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke; for hunting and 
fishing there are abundant opportunities; the 
drives in the vicinity are delightful; our hotel and 
stable keepers are accommodating; and he must 
be a hypochondriac indeed who cannot enjoy life 
in Holyoke. 

"Would you banish sultriness and care, 
And taste the joys of life — come seek them here." 



496 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Editorial Correspondence of the Holyoke Mirror. 

New York, July 3, 1855. 

A voyage up the Hudson! Noble, inspiring, 
delightful river: rich in historic incident, and at- 
tractive and lovely in its thousand natural and 
artificial beauties! Who would not covet an ex- 
cursion upon its majestic waters? To escape the 
oppressive heat of the city was a desideratum; 
and a visit to some excellent friends up the Hud- 
son was at once decided upon. 

At six o'clock P. M., we (i. e. myself and wife) 
embarked upon the steamer Hendrik Hudson, 
Capt. A. P. St John, for Albany. Of all the North 
River boats this is one of the largest and most 
elegant, and her Commander one of the most gen- 
tlemanly and courteous of men. In proof of this 
I need only add that nearly one thousand passen- 
gers were on board, aad yet all were accommo- 
dated and made comfortable. The cabins are 
richly furnished; the tables are laid in the most 
tasty manner and loaded with every delicacy; and 
the state-rooms are ample and luxuriant. 

Arriving early in the morning at Albany, an 
omnibus ride of nine miles, over a smooth McAd- 
amized road to Lansingburgh, brought us to the 
door of the friends we would visit, Mr. and Mrs. 
James McKinney, They received us openly and 
cordially, and with them we spent a day and a 
night in the happiest and most agreeable manner. 

Greatly altered was this section of the country 
since I used to frequent it some years ago. Its 
business and population have nearly doubled, and 
the adornings of the cities and villages, the streets, 
private dwellings and public edifices are multi- 
plied beyond compute. 

Lansingburgh is situated on the left bank of the 
Hudson, three miles north of Troy. It is regular- 
ly laid out and contains a population of about five 
thousand. The Mohawk river empties into the 
Hudson opposite the village, and the roar of the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 497 

Coboes Falls may be distinctly heard in the still- 
ness of the night. 

West Troy, upon the right bank of the Hudson, 
is an energetic and thriving place, and contains 
abont fifteen thousand inhabitants. The place 
was formerly called Watervliet. It is here that 
the United States Government maintains an arse- 
nal, comprising several extensive buildings of 
stone and brick. The arms are arranged with 
taste and kept in fine order. Among the cannon 
in the yard are some pieces captured at Saratoga, 
at Yorktown, and some that were presented to our 
Government by Louis XIV. 

Troy city, with a population of twenty-five 
thousand, is one of the prettiest cities in the 
world. It was founded and built up by New Eng- 
enders and has always been noted for its thrift 
and neatness. Mount Ida and Mount Olympus, 
just east of the city, are distinguished eminences, 
affording commanding views of the surrounding 
country. 

From Troy to Albany stages, competent to the 
extraordinary flux of passengers, are in hourly 
transit. Besides these conveyances there are nu- 
merous river craft, and also the Troy and Green- 
bush railway. The road to Albany is one of the 
finest on the continent, admitting three carriages 
abreast. The scenery upon it is inviting and pic- 
turesque. 

Albany appears much as it did twenty years 
ago, though perhaps more cleanly. It must, how- 
ever, be greatly altered, we opine, since the time 
of writing Morse's Geography, when it was said 
to contain a certain number of houses, and was 
settled by the Dutch, with their gable ends all 
standing to the street! The position of Albany 
near the head of tide makes it a great thorough- 
fare, and its railroads and canals render it the 
entrepot for a large portion of the produce of the 
State destined for the New York market. 

On our return down the Hudson we took passage 



498 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

at seven o'clock, A. M., upon the new and elegant 
steamer Armenia, Capt. N. B. Cochran. This en- 
abled us to make the entire voyage in the day 
time, and a most delightful day and happy pas- 
sage we had. We found Capt. Cochran social, 
affable, and attentive to the wants and comforts of 
his passengers. His boat was a fast sailer, 

"Skimming the water like a thing of life," 

and in nine hours (including all her landings) she 
was at her dock at the foot of Murray street in 
New York. We can cordially recommend all per- 
sons wishing to view the magnificent scenery of 
the North River, and at the same time be 'made as 
happy as possible, to take passage on the steamer 
Armenia and place themselves under the kind pro- 
tection of Capt. Cochran. 

To write a description of the scenery of the 
Hudson would be to repeat what has been done 
over and over again a thousand times. To note 
all that attracts the eye of . the passenger would 
weary the patience of any reader; but an allusion 
to a few of the more important objects of interest 
may be permitted. 

Some thirty-five miles south from Albany are 
the Catskill Mountains. Landing at Catskill, the 
tourist is at once ushered into a stage-coach, when 
a ride of twelve miles brings him to the Mountain „ 
House. This house is in full view from the river, 
and, being near the summit of the mountains, at 
once arrests the attention of all who are gazing 
mountainward. The prospect from this hotel _is 
more extensive and diversified, perhaps, than 
fnom any other spot in the United states, if we 
except Mount Washington. The eye roves in end- 
less gratification over farms, villages, towns and 
cities stretching between the Green Mountains of 
Vermont on the north and the Highlands on the 
south; and the Hudson river, with its green isles 
and thousand sheets of white canvas, becomes vis- 
ible for sixty miles in a clear atmosphere. The 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 499 

elevation of the Mountain House above the River 
is 2200 feet. 

West Point, fifty miles north of New York, is 
the site of one of the most important fortresses 
erected during the Revolutionary War, and now 
of the famous military school established and sup- 
ported by the National Government. The impor- 
tance of this post, during the Revolution, was 
apparent to the British from various considera- 
tions, and, had Arnold's treachery succeeded, the 
enemy would have at once opened a grand high- 
way between New York and the Canadas. 

The chief buildings at the Point are the Acade- 
my, Barracks, Quarters of the Commandants, Offi- 
cers, &c, and the Hotel. Near the N. E. corner 
of the grounds, on a projecting point forming the 
abrupt bend of the river, is a white marble monu- 
ment, bearing the simple inscription ' 'Kosciusko." 
''Erected by the corps of Cadets, 1828." Another 
monument, at the north-west corner of the plain, 
was reared by Maj. General Brown to Colonel 
E. D. Wood, a pupil of the institution, who fell at 
the sortie from Fort Erie, 17th September, 1814. 
On the bank of the river, at the south-east extrem- 
ity of the parade ground, upon a lower level, is 
Kosciusko's garden, whither the Polish chieftain 
was accustomed to retire for study or reflection. 
Marks of cultivation are perceptible in the dispo- 
sition of the walks and trees; and the beautiful 
seclusion of the spot still invites to thought or 
repose. 

Batteries which surmount the several terraces 
on the river give to the Point a warlike aspect, 
and indicate how readily and effectually the post 
could again be converted into a key for locking 
the passage between the lakes and the ocean. 

The profile of a human face, called the Turk's 
Pace, at the northern extremity of the Highlands 
on the east side, and Anthony's Nose at the south- 
ern extremity, are pointed out as objects of inter- 
est to the curious. The track of the Hudson 



500 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

River Railroad passes through Anthony's Nose by 
a tunnel 350 feet in length and through a cut of a 
much greater length. 

From the vicinity of Nyack to Fort Lee, on the 
western bank, a distance of thirty miles, are the 
Palisades, perpendicular rocks rising from the 
waters' edge to a height varying from 400 to 1000 
feet. Fort Lee has an elevation of 300 feet above 
the river, and was a fortification to which Gen. 
Washington retreated when compelled to abandon 
New York island. Tarrytown upon the east side, 
nearly opposite Nyack, is famed as the spot where 
Maj. Andre was arrested by the American sol- 
diers, Paulding, Williams and Van Wert. 

Yonkers is a delightful village sixteen miles 
above New York, and is a favorite summer retreat 
from the city. Passing Yonkers we soon come in 
view of the great metropolis of the Western 
World, and the scenes passed in review, during 
the passage of a few hours, so varied, so fairy- 
like, so sublime and so enchanting, seem on reflec- 
tion more like dream-pictures than realities. 

"Eoll on, noble river, with grandeur and pride ; 
Waft the stores of your country on every side ;" 
Bring a full share of wealth from off the broad main ; 
Be ours the delight oft to view thee again. 

H. 



[Note. — The meeting of the Captain of the steamer Armenia 
with Mr. Hildreth, on the trip mentioned in the foregoing arti- 
cle, was very cordial. When Mr. H. applied for his passage 
tickets Capt. Cochran said : "You don't know me !" "No, sir," 
was the answer. "Well, I was book-keeper in the counting- 
room of the Hamilton Corporation, in Lowell, at the time you 
started the Literary Souvenir there, in 1839, and was your first 
subscriber." He then said : "Here are the passage tickets for 
yourself and wife, and here are your dinner tickets ;" which 
Mr. H. gratefully accepted. When dinner was ready the Cap- 
tain came for Mr. Hildreth and his lady and seated them next 
to himself at the head of the table. 1 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 501 

THE GLORIOUS FOURTH. 

Editorial Correspondence. 

New York, July 5, 1855. 

Dear Mirror: The Fourth of July in New York, 
as celebrated yesterday, was "some" — in the way 
of noise, hilarity, drunkenness, and every other 
mode of manifesting "independence." Frequent 
showers of rain occurred in the after part of the 
day, which did throw "cold water" upon the pro- 
ceedings, — but in spite of this, and the expected 
enforcement of the Maine Law, which did not do 
so, the day was universally and enthusiastically 
observed. Our slumbers were early interrupted 
by- a procession of negroes passing our hotel, 
singing with stentorian voices a cheerful song, 
the chorus to each verse ending with 

"We will be happy to-day." 

Soon the firing of cannon and crackers an- 
nounced that the festivities had commenced, and 
as the day advanced with the prospect of favorable 
weather, the streets became gradually thronged 
with citizens, whose jovial countenances and gay 
holiday suits denoted that they intended to do 
honor to the occasion. Flags were displayed from 
the different public buildings and the vessels in 
the harbor, and the manifestations of general en- 
joyment and extraordinary hilarity were visible 
on every hand. 

The military parade, which was the feature of 
the day, was formed on Broadway, the line rest- 
ing on Fourteenth Street, between eight and nine 
o'clock A. M. They numbered four thousand and 
were under the command of Major General Charles 
W. Sanford. 

The pleasures of the evening were seriously 
impaired by frequent showers of rain from 4:30 to 
12 P. M. The ludicrous appearance of the many 
pleasure-seekers scampering helter-skelter as each 
succeeding shower admonished them to leave, may 



502 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

be better imagined than described. In the even- 
ing large crowds of people collected in the differ- 
ent Parks to witness the display of Fire Works, 
but after waiting and wading through the mud, 
and wondering, until nine o'clock P. M., they 
were consoled by the following placard, evincing 
in the execution haste if not taste: 

"No Fire Works To-Night. " 

Most of the fire works purchased by the city for 
public exhibition were large and costly pieces, 
which had been set up on their frames in the vari- 
ous Squares during the early part of the day. 
They were of course spoiled by the rains, and 
therefore the display could not take place. Rock- 
ets and Roman Candles, however, were sent up in 
profusion. 

The day did not pass off without some of those 
unfortunate accidents which usually attend Inde- 
pendence Day. Brigadier General Hall met with 
severe injuries, which may deprive him of the use 
of one of his limbs. He was forming the proces- 
sion in Broadway, in the morning, when his horse 
slipped and fell heavily upon his leg, breaking it 
in two places and otherwise injuring him.. He 
was immediately carried to his home by his broth- 
er soldiers, and Gen. Sanford ordered the best sur- 
geons of his division to attend him, Numerous 
other accidents occurred, resulting from the firing 
of pistols and crackers, the extreme heat, &c, 
which time and space will not allow me to partic- 
ularize. There were also half a dozen fires in dif- 
ferent parts of the city, but none of great extent. 

In the evening all the popular places of amuse- 
ment were crowded to excess, and with these 
closed the festivities of the Glorious Fourth in 
New York. With the exception of the military 
parade which did take place, and the fire works 
which did not, there were no extraordinary ar- 
rangements made on the part of the city govern- 
ment for i the celebration. But the preparations 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 503 

by associations and individuals were probably 
never before so extensive. The numerous steam- 
ers and other craft, with their flags and streamers, 
and the gay parties all in holiday attire, gave the 
harbor a romantic and joyful appearance. 

The demon rum would mar the enjoyment of 
many, but instead of wondering that there should 
be here and there instances of dissipation arid 
riot, the wonder is that there were not more of 
them. When the number and character of the 
population are considered, it may be safely set 
down that few country towns can boast of better 
order or less dissipation than New York on such 
an occasion. Take it all in all it was a gay and 
happy time for the city; one that thousands will 
reflect upon with gratitude and pleasure. h. 



From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. 

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. 

This is a lovely place, — one of the finest of the 
New England cities. Having a leisure hour, as 
the Editor and his Better Half were passing 
through the place, on a recent occasion, we im- 
proved the time in looking at some of the various 
objects of interest which it afforded. The Legis- 
lature was in session at the time, and a visit to the 
State House gave us an opportunity to look upon 
the "assembled wisdom" (know nothing) which 
the Nutmeg State afforded. They looked very 
much like other men. only perhaps a little more 
so, and did business much as other legislators do. 
though somewhat more rapidly; for during the ten 
minutes that we were there a single bill was read 
three times and put upon its final passage. The 
state-house stands in the center of the city, en- 
closed by an ornamental iron fence, and is in the 
midst of beautiful shade trees. The cupola com- 
mands one of the richest and most extensive land- 
scape views in the country. 

The American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb 



504 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

is in the immediate vicinity of the city, though 
outside of the corporate limits, as is also the Re- 
treat for the Insane. The Asylum was the first 
institution for the instruction of deaf mutes ever 
established in this country. It was founded in 
1817, chiefly through the instrumentality of the 
late Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LL. D., its first 
Principal, who visited Europe for the purpose of 
obtaining the requisite information. On his re- 
turn in 1816 he was accompanied by Mr. Laurent 
Clerc. a deaf mute, who had been a successful 
teacher for several years in Paris, under the Abbe 
Sicard. He was at once secured as an associate 
instructor with Mr. Gallaudet, and the institution 
rose rapidly into public favor and confidence. 
The main building was erected in 1820. It is 130 
by 50 feet and four stories high. Several other 
buildings, workshops, &c, have also been erected. 
The number of pupils average two hundred. This 
institution is an ornament to the city, the State 
and the country, and an enduring monument of 
the Christian philanthropy and wisdom of its now 
departed founder. 

We passed through the main building, visited 
the workshops, inspected the grounds, &c. The 
Matron, Mrs. Phebe C. White, received us both 
very courteously, and after an interesting conver- 
sation upon topics connected with the institution, 
she requested Miss Margaret Greenlaw, a mistress 
of the establishment, and an amiable and accom- 
plished lady, to conduct us through the different 
mechanical departments. Many of the inmates, 
particularly the girls, were taught the tailoring 
business and other kinds of needlework. The 
men and boys were mostly taught cabinet-making 
and shoe-making. They were neatly attired — 
many appeared unusually intelligent, —and a cheer- 
ful and happy aspect seemed borne by all. 

The great event of the past year, to the mutes, 
was the erection of a beautiful monument to the 
memory of their late benefactor, Mr. Gallaudet. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 505 

This monument, costing several thousand dollars, 
was paid for entirely by contributions from deaf 
mutes; not a dollar having been received from any 
hearing and speaking person. 

Having devoted considerable time, in Vermont, 
a few years since, in aiding the mutes there to ar- 
range for a convention to promote this praisewor- 
thy object, we naturally took much satisfaction in 
beholding the monument now that it is completed 
and erected in the Asylum yard. The designs and 
lettering are all well conceived and beautifully 
executed. Upon one side is a panel representing 
Mr. Gallaudet in the act of teaching little children 
the manual alphabet. Another panel has only the 
word Gallaudet, inscribed in bas-relief, in the let- 
ters of the manual alphabet. On the east panel is 
the inscription: 

THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET, LL. D., 

BOEN IN PHILADELPHIA, 

December 10, 1787, 

DIED IN HAETEOED, SEPTEMBEE 10, 1851, 
AGED 64 YEAES. 

And on the west panel is the following: 

EEECTED TO THE MEMOEY OF 

REV. THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET, LL. D., 

BY THE DEAF AND DUMB OF THE UNITED STATES, AS 

A TESTIMONIAL OF PEOFOUND GEATITUDE TO THEIE 

EAELIEST AND BEST FEIEND AND BENEFACTOE. 

The monument is over twenty feet high, and is 
enclosed with a handsome iron fence, with granite 
posts. Both in design and execution, this is un- 
doubtedly one of the most beautiful monuments of 
its kind in the United States; worthy of the noble 
name which it is raised to honor. 

For courtesies shown the writer and his wife at 
the Asylum, on the occasion of our visit there, we 
desire to tender thanks, to Mr. Sage, master of 
the shoe manufactory; to Mrs. White, and to Miss 
Greenlaw. 

64 



506 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Hartford is also noted as being the residence of 
Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney. Her mansion is situa- 
ted near the centre of the city, occupying capa- 
cious grounds and commanding a fine prospect. 

The celebrated "Charter Oak" is among the ob- 
jects of interest in Hartford. The original char- 
ter which it saved is still in a good state of pres- 
ervation, in the office of the Secretary of State. 

There are many persons engaged in manufactur- 
ing and in commercial enterprises of various 
kinds, in Hartford, besides a large number of 
heavy manufacturing and mechanical establish- 
ments, unincorporated; among which are the pistol 
factory of Samuel Colt, Esq., for the manufacture 
of his world-renowned "revolver;" Sharp's cele : 
brated rifle factory; Tracy & Fales' extensive car 
factory; and Woodruff & Beach's mammoth iron 
foundry; — all conspicuous establishments. 

H. 



THE HARTFORD STEAMERS. 

The daily line of steamers between Hartford 
and New York is a great accommodation. Pas- 
sengers for New York find it far more pleasant to 
leave the cars at Hartford, and go on board the 
steamer, than to continue on through the dust and 
heat by railroad. Besides, they can arrive in New 
York early in the morning, which is just as well 
for all business purposes as to arrive late in the 
evening previous. These steamers are fitted up 
in a superb manner, having excellent state room 
accommodations and the most attentive servants; 
so that passengers enjoy all the comforts of a first 
class hotel. We have ever found Captains King 
and Mills faithful to their trusts and courteous in 
their demeanor. 

On our recent return from New York, on board 
the "City of Hartford," the gentlemanly clerk, 
Mr. J. M. Parker, was assiduous in his efforts to 
promote the happiness of the passengers, and our 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 507 

party were gay and happy in the extreme. Music 
upon the piano, accompanied with singing, in 
which all were invited to join, was continued 
through the evening. Upon the aft upper deck 
there was dancing and waltzing by a party of 
Terpsichoreans who delighted to '-trip the light 
fantastic toe" to the music of the violin's enliven- 
ing strains; and "all went merry as a marriage 
bell." Merchants and business men in the valley 
of the Connecticut river, can have their merchan- 
dise transported by these steamers cheaper than 
by any other route. — Holyoke Mirror. 



HAPPY DAYS. 

A few days since we overheard two elderly gen- 
tlemen conversing in regard to the period when 
they had best enjoyed themselves. "I will tell 
you," said one, "when I most enjoyed life, — it was 
soon after I was twenty-one, while at work for 

Mr. . laying stone wall, at twenty -five cents a 

day." "Well," replied the other, "that doesn't 
differ much from my experience. When I was 
twenty I hired myself out at seven dollars a 
month. I never enjoyed myself better than I did 
when at work for that small pay." These two 
gentlemen are now surrounded by every luxury 
that wealth can command, yet they declare that 
their happiest days were when earning their bread 
by hard labor and receiving small pay. Their ex- 
perience teaches us that one's happiness does not 
depend on what he gains, or the position he occu- 
pies, and that very small beginnings, with indus- 
try and prudence, may secure wealth. — Holyoke 
Mirror. 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI. 

A friend of ours who has just returned from 
Northern Iowa, where he has spent much of the 
present season, informs us that eastern people, 



508 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

who have not been there, can have no conception 
of the vast tide of emigration now pouring into 
that State. A section of land, more or less, is en- 
tered at the land agency and immediately laid out 
into a town or city, or is settled upon for agricul- 
tural purposes; and, where the wild buffalo roamed 
at will but a year ago, thriving and populous vil- 
lages, or beautiful cultivated farms, all alive with 
the hum of industry, take their places as if by en- 
chantment. The soil is exceedingly fertile and 
productive, there is an abundance of timber, ex- 
cellent and pure running water, while the climate 
is unusually salubrious and healthy. His glowing 
descriptions of that "land of promise" have almost 
given us the "Western fever." — Holyoke Mirror. 



From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror . 

NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS. 

No class of men labor harder or get poorer pay, 
as a general thing, than printers and newspaper 
publishers. For the capital invested, the labor 
performed, and the talent and thought employed, 
it must be conceded on all hands that the requital 
they receive is meagre indeed. It has somehow 
come to be a preconceived notion with the public 
that they are to stand more "sponging" and 
"dead-heading;" to puff and defend more people, 
and sorts of people, without fee or hope of re- 
ward, than any other class of business men. They 
credit wider and longer; get of tener cheated; suf- 
fer more pecuniary loss; and are of tener the vic- 
tims of misplaced confidence; than those of any 
other calling. People pay a printer's bill more 
reluctantly than any other. It goes harder with 
them to expend a dollar on a valuable newspaper 
than ten dollars on a useless gewgaw; yet every 
one avails himself of the services of the editor's 
and printer's ink. How many professional and 
political reputations and fortunes have been creat- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 509 

ed and sustained by the friendly though unrequit- 
ed pen of the editor! How many embryo towns 
and cities have been brought into notice and 
puffed into prosperity by the press! How many 
railroads, now in successful operation, would have 
foundered but for the assistance of the ' 'lever that 
moves the world!" In short, what branch of 
American industry or activity has not been pro- 
moted, stimulated and defended by the press? 
And who has tendered it more than a miserable 
pittance for its mighty services? 



INTOLERANCE. 

It is all very well for a few opinionated and rest- 
less politicians to meet and concoct plans for car- 
rying out their favorite objects, and at the same 
time denounce their opponents with all the bitter- 
ness of which the English language is capable; 
this in their conceited eyes is all very well; but 
should a person of different views detect and ex- 
pose their schemes, and give expression to his 
own opinions, these worthies will pounce upon 
him like the vulture upon the innocent dove, and 
calumniate him in the basest terms. A noticeable 
fact is it that men who clamor loudest about free- 
dom (for negroes) are the greatest tyrants as to 
freedom of opinion. — Holyoke Mirror. 



From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. 

WHIG MEETING. 

A meeting of the Whigs of Holyoke, pursuant 
to a call of the Whig Town Committee, convened 
in Exchange Hall. Sept. 29, 1855, and organized 
by choosing A. O. Colby. Chairman; and I. Booth - 
by, Secretary. The Chairman read the call for 
the meeting, stating its object to be to choose del- 
egates to the Whig State Convention to be held in 
Worcester on the 2d of October; to choose a new 
Town Committee, &c. The meeting voted to elect 



510 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

three delegates to attend the State Convention, 
when A. B. F. Hildreth, Otis Holmes, and Richard 
Pattee were chosen as delegates. 

Voted that a committee of three be appointed to 
draft and report resolutions; and A. B. F. Hil- 
dreth, R. Pattee and T. H. Kelt were elected said 
committee. This Committee, through their Chair- 
man, Mr. Hildreth, reported as follows: 

Resolved, Jhat, having ever regarded the Whig 
party as the conservative of the Nation, we, the 
Whigs of Holyoke, amid the present conflicts of 
opinion, look with renewed confidence to the con- 
servative principles of our party, and regard its 
continuance as a distinct organization as of vital 
importance to the welfare of the State and Nation. 

Resolved, That our country has other interests 
than those of slavery; and that in a country pos- 
sessing interests so numerous and diversified, and 
having aspirations so lofty, an incessant wran- 
gling about negro slaves, (over whom we have no 
control,) to the exclusion of all other topics and 
interests, is not the height of statesmanship; and, 
as Whigs, we cannot give our political support to 
any man, nor join hands with any party, that 
makes this single principle the issue. 

Resolved, That, as Whigs, we ever have and ever 
will resist efforts to extend African slavery, when 
we have the power, while at the same time we 
recognize the»obligations imposed by the Consti- 
tution and Laws of Congress and respect the com- 
promises of both. 

Resolved, That the present dominant party of 
this Commonwealth [know-nothings] came into 
power making loud protestations of economy, re- 
trenchment and reform, but their acts have given 
the lie to their professions; and we submit that, 
by their swelling up an alarming and even untold 
State debt; prolonging the session of the Legisla- 
ture beyond all precedent; increasing the pay of 
its members from two to three dollars per day, 
and taxing the people to support their vices; pas- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 511 

sing unequal, illiberal and unconstitutional laws; 
invading private rights; insulting the judiciary of 
the State; proscribing talent and elevating imbe- 
cility; they have truly earned the euphonious cog- 
nomen by which they are known. 

Resolved, That in view of the former high stand- 
ing of statesmanship in Massachusetts and its 
present degraded position, we are truly mortified, 
and henceforth will exert ourselves to, redeem the 
State's character and standing among her sisters 
of the confederacy. 

Resolved, In the language of Webster, that, ' 'in 
the dark and troubled night that is upon us, we 
see no star above the horizon promising light to 
guide us but the intelligent, patriotic and united 
Whig party;" and that, faithfully discharging our 
duty as Whigs, we still repose confidence in the 
intelligence and patriotism of the people, believ- 
ing that their second sober thought will lead them 
to reform at least some of the abuses under which 
we suffer. 

The report was accepted, and the resolutions 
unanimously adopted. 

Voted, That the delegates to the Whig State 
Convention be and are hereby requested to go for 
the nomination of a distinct and pure Whig ticket 
for State Officers. 

Voted to adjourn. 

O. A. Colby. 

I. Boothby, Chairman. 

Secretary. 



There is no enemy so malevolent and mean as 
the person who has done you an injury without 
provocation. His conscience, if it be not too dead, 
is continually upbraiding him, and he therefore 
seeks every opportunity to silence it by adding in- 
sult to injury. — Mirror. 



512 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

From the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. 



PURE AMERICANISM 



"Mingle, mingle, mingle — 
You that mingle may." 

"By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes ; 
Open locks, whoever knocks." 

The "last card" of the Holyoke Know-Nothings 
is exceedingly rich. After counting noses and 
finding themselves unable to elect a Representa- 
tive, and also finding that they had no one fit for 
the office, recourse was had to the "by-ways and 
hedges." On Monday night a prominent Fusionist 
was "taken in and done for," and then returned to 
the embraces of Abolition charmers, to whom it 
has been a Know- Nothing pastime on any and all 
occasions during the past year. By this ' 'double 
shuffle" the great crack in the Worcester squash- 
shell is to be healed and a lovely and affectionate 
coalition consummated with the "Rag Bag" party. 
— thus fraternizing rum and cold water, pro- slav- 
ery and abolition, Know Something and Know 
Nothing, Stringfellow and Reeder, "Old Federal 
Whiggery" and "Douglas Democracy;" all the re- 
ligions and all the isms; 

"Black spirits and white, 
Blue spirits and grey ;" 

the whole fused into one conglomerate mass! It 
seems as if we can see the Abolitionists rolling up 
the whites of their eyes as the Know Nothing 
phalanx roll in the ballots that are to elect the 
great embodiment of every creed, and kill once 
more the "dead" Whigs and Hunker Democrats! 
Stand from under, boys. There's fun ahead! 

Seriously — the Know Nothings are trying hard 
to court favor with the Fusionists. But the latter, 
puffed up with empty pride, are a little scornful. 
The cooing and wooing between these two fac- 
tions remind us of the reply of a buxom lassie to a 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 513 

little pigmy of a man, who solicited of her a mat- 
rimonial connection. "Oh, no," said the fair lady; 
"I cannot think of it for a moment. The fact 
is, John, you are a little too big to put in a cradle, 
and a little too small to put in a bed. '"' 



VALEDICTORY. 

With the present number ceases our connection 
with the Holyoke Mirror. We have sold out our 
newspaper and job printing business to Mr. M. C. 
Pratt, of Vermont, and that gentleman is expected 
to enter upon the duties of the establishment the 
ensuing week. Mr. Pratt is a stranger to us and 
a stranger in the place, but we trust he will prove 
acceptable to the citizens of Holyoke and do credit 
to the business upon which he is about to enter. 
In making this disposition of our business we are 
actuated by no misanthropic motives. The char- 
acteristics of the Cynic do not enter our composi- 
tion. The brief term of our residence in Holyoke 
has been congenial and pleasant; oar business 
success has been all that we had anticipated; and 
our prospects for the future were as nattering as 
could reasonably be expected. 

When we began the publication of the Mirror 
there was no newspaper in Holyoke. We have 
carried forward the enterprise to the present time, 
and placed it upon what may well be regarded as 
a permanent basis. In the management of the 
Mirror we are not so vain as to believe that we 
have in no instance failed of giving satisfaction. 
To do this an editor must be more than human. 
But we can truthfully say that we have striven 
earnestly and conscientiously to subserve the best 
interests of Holyoke and of the country at large. 
We have aimed to furnish our patrons a family 
journal pure in morals and affording wholesome, 
agreeable and instructive information. 

In the literary and miscellaneous departments 
of the Mirror we have employed some of the best 

65 



514 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

pens of the country, and have made our selections 
with iudustry and care. We have carefully col- 
lated the current events of the day, both at home 
and abroad, and endeavored to present them in a 
clear, concise and readable form. In politics we 
have pursued the even tenor of our way, swerving 
neither to the right nor to the left; and though 
some of our patrons may have gone to worship 
strange gods that shunned the light of day, still 
they have not withdrawn from us their support, 
nor has our consistent course failed to command 
their respect, though perhaps not their full appro- 
bation. 

Amid the present conflicting and fluctuating po- 
litical opinions it were idle to think of pleasing 
every one. "Men change, principles never." The 
political principles prevalent in Massachusetts for 
a long series of years have gone far to make the 
State what she is. They ought not to be put off 
for others new and of doubtful utility. Progress 
is not always improvement, and it is in the con- 
servative influences of the greatest, wisest and 
best of our citizens — a minority though they may 
be — that the hope for the future of our country 
rests. 

The counsels of the Mirror may not have been 
wholly heeded in the political affairs of this com- 
munity, and yet we have every assurance that 
they have had a restraining influence upon the 
conduct of political partisans. If by its teachings 
men have been induced to pause and reflect as 
they were in blindness rushing into the maelstrom 
of political excitement and fanaticism, and have 
finally broken away from the charmer, recovered 
their sober senses, and returned to the indubitable 
principles of the fathers of the Confederacy, then 
have our labors not been in vain. In all this we 
do not claim infallibility. Faults we have in com- 
mon with all mankind. But whatever errors we 
may have committed in our capacity as an editor, 
we beg to assure our friends that they were of the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 515 

head and not of the heart, and for them we beg 
pardon. ' k To err is human; to forgive, divine." 

In taking our leave of the Mirror and its pa J 
trons, we do so with many regrets. We had antic- 
ipated making Holyoke our home for life. There 
are few more beautiful spots or desirable commu- 
nities in which to reside — there may be worse. 
But man is not always the controller of his own 
destinies; on the contrary he is often, in a greater 
or less degree, the creature of circumstances. In 
our own case circumstances conspire to entice us 
to another and distant place of abode. 

We go to rear us a home away beyond the Mis- 
sissippi river, in a new country, amid untried 
scenes, which cannot be exempt from deprivation 
and hardship. It may be that our bones shall ere 
long bleach upon that soil, — it may be that, sick 
and disappointed, we shall shortly return to the 
bosom of our loved New England, and there, amid 
our native hills and the scenes of early youth, 
peacefully pass the remainder of life a wiser if not 
a happier and better man. But wherever our lot 
may be cast we shall never cease to cherish with 
a lively interest the well-being of Holyoke and her 
people. 

And now, kind and indulgent reader, with an 
ardent desire for your prosperity, and the gushing 
sympathy of a warm and confiding friendship, we 
bid you a cordial and affectionate farewell. 

A. B. F. H. 



Correspondence of the Boston Daily Traveler. 

LETTER FROM THE WEST. 

St. Charles, Iowa, Feb. 20, 1856. 

Editors of the Traveler: To the staid citizen of 
New England a journey to the West is a great 
achievement. To break up all the ties which af- 
fection has woven for friends and home and emi- 
grate to a new country a thousand miles away, 
seems to him like severing his very heartstrings. 



516 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

And yet if one can muster the resolution to leave 
the home of early days, and has the energy to re- 
move to, and build him a home in this Western 
world, I honestly believe he may find it to his ad- 
vantage. For a man of means, the West is just 
the place, and it is also the place for the poor me- 
chanic and laboring man. 

In my opinion Illinois and Iowa are ever to be 
the two great agricultural States of the Union. 
Illinois at this time may be slightly more product- 
ive, and just now she enjoys greater railroad facil- 
ities; but Iowa has the advantage of a better cli- 
mate, better water and better timber, and a few 
years will give her all the railroad facilities that 
can be asked for. 

In morals. Iowa is not to be surpassed by any 
other State. The excellency of her constitution 
and the purity and simplicity of her laws indicate 
that her founders were straight-forward, right- 
thinking, common-sense people. They must have 
been such, or they would not in the beginning 
have recognized all grog-shops as nuisances, and 
have made the vender of ardent spirits liable for 
his transgressions. People removing to Iowa will 
do well. to remember that "anything will" not "do 
out West." Fourth-rate lawyers, doctors and 
clergymen should bear in mind that the people 
here have not forgotten the good and great they 
left behind. Merchants need not take old goods 
to Iowa, nor faded belles flatter themselves that 
last year's fashions will answer. I will add, how- 
ever, that bonnets here do not hang so exactly 
upon nothing as at the East. In this I like the 
West — there is more of sense and less of the re- 
straint which fashion imposes. 

In a removal to the West the immigrant will find 
trials and hardships spring up around him un- 
known in an older country. Sickness, while be- 
coming acclimated, the distance from villages, 
mills, mechanics and neighbors, and the various 
"ills that life is heir to," will perhaps tread close- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 517 

ly upon his heels and often cause him to sigh for 
"the leeks and garlics" he left behind. 

In all probability, everything considered, the 
State of Iowa is the best of the whole Union. The 
inducements it presents to actual settlers are be- 
yond computation. It is here that, with prudence 
and economy, the poorest may rear themselves a 
comfortable home and soon become independent. 
But they must look at things and take things as 
they are. No fancied sketch must weave around 
the imagination sudden wealth and unreal beau- 
ties. They may fancy Iowa a garden, and roam- 
ing in summer over its prairies gather flowers 
from its rich soil, and exclaim with the Indian, in 
ecstasies of delight, "I-o-wah! I have found the 
beautiful land!" But it will never make them 
rich, nor create a happy home, without patience 
and toil. 

No selection of good lands, owned by Govern- 
ment, can now be made in Iowa within seventy- 
five miles of the Mississippi river; nor, indeed, is 
it desirable to locate nearer, for the soil and cli- 
mate farther west are altogether better. Central 
Iowa is the best portion of the State. One hun- 
dred miles west of the Mississippi may be found 
the finest prairie and timber lands in the world. 
Through them the Cedar River takes its way, — as 
lovely and romantic a stream as any to which 
Burns, or Campbell, or Moore has ever given 
celebrity in verse, not wanting in many of those 
thrilling legends which have heretofore furnished 
the foundations of some of the best effusions of 
our poets. 

There is something in the "growing, glowing 
West" that expands the soul of man, and elevates 
him above the narrow and cramped ideas of older 
communities. There, a "new comer" into an old 
community is looked upon as an intruder, and is 
often elbowed out or trampled down by those who 
fancy they cannot spare any room to him. But, 
in the West, all is new and plastic and vigorous. 



518 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

Men are wanted and are welcomed. And an un- 
bounded and untrammeled field for enterprise is 
here presented, adequate to the elastic energies of 
ingenuous youth or mature manhood. 

It is interesting to note a new comer from the 
East, especially one from the "old fogy" settle- 
ments, — to see his mind expand, his eye light up 
with the fire of a renewed energy, and his whole 
nature grow to the liberal standard of Nature's 
doings in the West. . 

Having been slightly affected with what is 
termed the '-Western fever," I have made the 
journey hither for the purpose of satisfying my- 
self fully upon the propriety of my removal to the 
West, and not "take a leap in the dark." My ex- 
pectations and hopes of the country are fully real- 
ized, and I have decided to make Central Iowa my 
future home. Taking into account the central 
position of the State in our confederacy, and the 
fact of the rapid development of her resources, I 
am convinced that she-is destined soon to become 
all that the most sanguine have claimed for her. 
Her salubrious climate, the abundance of water 
and favorable distribution of timber, all contribute 
to give Iowa pre-eminence among the Western 
States in the minds of those who are exchanging 
a residence in the East for one in the West. 

A. B. F. H. 



From the St. Charles (Iowa) Eepublican Intelligencer. 
SALUTATORY. 

Indulgent Reader: We herewith present you 
the first number of the "St. Charles Republican 
Intelligencer. " It is expected that you will peruse 
it attentively, and possibly you will criticise it 
closely. Faultless it is not, but such as it is we 
offer it to the public, and solicit for it a generous 
patronage. Every one, at all familiar with the 
mechanical, as well as editorial, department of a 
newspaper establishment, knows something of the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 519 

disadvantages under which the first number of a 
newspaper must be issued. The organization of 
the printing room, the arrangement of all the 
types and fixtures, the want of exchange news- 
papers from which to glean the news of the day 
and other intelligence, are all unpleasant matters 
that cannot at once be adjusted. We had antici- 
pated an earlier issue of our paper, but our office 
building was not completed, and it was only within 
the last few days that we were enabled to occupy 
it and commence business. 

We are now fairly launched upon the experi- 
mental tide of publishing a newspaper in St. 
Charles. We do not expect the enterprise, for the 
present, will redound very much to our pecuniary 
advantage, but should our friends bestow upon us 
their patronage with that liberality of which we 
have every assurance that they will do, we shall 
industriously and perseveringly labor for the pro- 
motion of their welfare. 

It is far from our intention or wish to stir up 
discord and strife among the people of this com- 
munity, but on the contrary we desire to inculcate 
a spirit of harmony and good will, one towards 
another. We do not therefore propose to engage 
in a political party warfare, filling our sheet with 
gross personalities and opprobrious epithets. All 
men under our constitution have an equal right to 
religious and political opinions; and in whatever 
we may have to say on these subjects, we shall 
appeal to the understanding; using with due def- 
erence calm reasoning and persuasive argument, 
rather than crimination and abuse. We are nation- 
al and conservative, to a certain extent, in our 
political views; and yet there is enough of the 
'•young America*' in our composition to encourage 
progress and improvement. The incalculable re- 
sources of our country need to be developed, and 
the spirit of progress that is abroad in the land 
should only be guided in the right direction, — it 
should be encouraged, not checked. 



520 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

The construction of the great Pacific Railway, 
and the improvement of the navigable rivers of 
the West, would do more in a few years to open 
up the avenues of wealth, now hidden or unim- 
proved, than the work of generations without 
them. We have therefore been surprised and ag- 
grieved that the Government, merely to gratify 
the piques and prejudices of a miserable oligarchy 
of taskmasters, who are always opposed to pro- 
gress, should so forget its duty to the ivhole coun- 
try as to throw its influence against measures so 
popular with the masses and so beneficial to the 
nation and the world. We are aware that "un- 
constitutionality" is the plea, but when was the 
constitution not found plastic enough to cover a 
measure, whether right or wrong, if the present 
dominant party willed it? 

The reader has already discerned that we are 
not friends to that "peculiar institution" which 
sits like an incubus upon the body politic, para- 
lyzing all its energies, clogging all its action. 
And yet we would fulfill to the letter the federal 
compacts of our fathers; interfering not with the 
rights guaranteed to others, yet resisting with 
indomitable firmness any aggressions upon our 
own. Let those who wish, cherish the blight and 
mildew of slavery; but, for ourselves, we'll none 
of it. Were we placed in positions of high trust 
and power, where resistence to the slavery influ- 
ence is required, in the language of the noble 
Chatham, we would "never succumb — no, never, 
never, never." 

But a truce to politics. 

The senior editor has seen twenty years of edi- 
torial life, and in that time has learned something 
in the school of experience. Especially has he 
learned the folly of endeavoring to please every- 
body. We shall therefore pursue that course 
which seemeth right and proper, regardless of 
consequences. The Intelligencer is an independ- 
ent newspaper, and on all occasions where duty 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 521 

requires, it will not hesitate to approve the right 
and condemn the wrong 1 . It will be ''neutral" 
only upon subjects with which the editors are not 
familiar, or when they have not the facts at hand 
for forming an opinion; while at all times it will 
aim to be just and impartial. We believe such a 
course to be practicable, and more satisfactory 
and profitable to all concerned. 

In a country and among a people like ours, the 
field for editorial enterprise is extensive and calls 
for the utmost industry and vigilance on the part 
of those who conduct the public press. Our du- 
ties are arduous, — our responsibilities are great. 
We can hardly expect on all occasions to pursue a 
faultless course, but our errors shall be of the 
head and not of the heart. "To err is human— to 
forgive divine/' Suffice it to say, that we will be 
ever ready to co-operate with our friends in the 
promotion of every good work. 

With regard to our printing establishment, we 
may say that we have one of the best appointed 
offices in the State. Our material is all new, and 
was selected with great care expressly for doing 
work in this latitude. Having had large experi- 
ence as a printer in some of the principal cities of 
the Union, we flatter ourselves that all job print- 
ing entrusted to us will be executed in such a 
manner as to give the utmost satisfaction. The 
mechanical execution of this number of the Intel- 
ligencer will show for itself. Though not equal 
to what it might be, still it will compare favorably 
with the generality of newspapers. 

Our undivided efforts will not be wanting to 
render the Intelligencer a journal of fresh and re- 
liable information in relation to all the business 
interests of society; and as a general vehicle of 
useful and entertaining knowledge we trust it will 
not be behind the most enterprising and progress- 
ive of its contemporaries. 

Our means and facilities are adequate to the 
bestowing upon the Intelligencer all the requisites 



522 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

for insuring its constant progression in whatever 
constitutes a newspaper of the first class; a thor- 
ough business journal and advertising medium of 
superior advantages; while at the same time it is 
a literary and scientific publication, of especial 
interest and profit, for the perusal of persons of 
both sexes and all ages. 

Thus prepared for the voyage of journalism, 
with no inconsiderable advantages of experience, 
and with the facilities of continued observation 
and research, we launch upon the sea of adventure 
our new and staunch craft, the St. Charles Repub- 
lican Intelligencer, trusting that in its weekly 
trips it will long continue the bearer of welcome 
intelligence to thousands of the good people of 
Iowa and sister States. h. 



Note. — During Mr. Hildreth's long life as a printer and editor 
he had many young men in his employ to whom he taught the 
art of printing and newspaper work generally. Some of these 
persons have proved to be worthy and valuable citizens, and 
have become eminent as journalists, both at the East and in 
the West. Among these should be named De Ruyter De Witt 
Carver, a native of Delaware County, New York. He learned 
the printer's trade of Mr. Hildreth. in Holyoke, Mass., and was 
a boarder in the Hildreth family many years. When Mr. Hil- 
dreth located in Charles City Mr. Carver was a business partner 
with him during the first two or three years — from 1856 to 1859 ; 
but the financial crisis of 1857-S seriously affected all printing 
and newspaper business in Iowa, and Mr. Carver, becoming 
discouraged, sold his interest in the new enterprise to Mr. Hil- 
dreth, who thereafter conducted the business alone. 

Mr. Carver possesses a yielding disposition ; is civil, courte- 
ous and gentlemanly towards every one ; and in the printing 
business is ever desirous to please and give satisfaction to his 
patrons. He is a superior workman, and Mr. Hildreth has 
often said that no printer in Iowa could excel Mr. Carver in the 
execution of fine work. He is now, and has been for many 
years, one of the proprietors of the Dubuque Herald, the leading 
organ of the Democratic party in Iowa. Although differing in 
politics, there has ever existed a warm friendship between the 
two men. 

While boarding with Mrs. Hildreth, both in Holyoke and at 
Charles City, Mr. Carver seemed to regard that lady as a good, 
kind mother, who ever gave him, as she did others, wholesome 
counsel and advice. After her death he took especial pains to 
visit Mr. Hildreth in his sad and desolate home and tender sym- 
pathy and condolence. During their conversation the events 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 523 

of the past forty years were reviewed, and the visit showed 
that Mr. Carver held the life and character of Mrs. Hildreth in 
the most grateful remembrance. — Ed. 



ST. CHARLES. 

The land on which St. Charles is situated was 
purchased of the United States Government by 
Mr. Joseph Kelly, one of the present proprietors 
of the town, in November, A. D. 1850. It was 
then the site of a nourishing Indian village, inhab- 
ited by members of the Winnebago tribe. The 
nearest white settlement was at or near Janesville 
in Bremer county, distant about thirty-five miles; 
that place being then known as the "Lower Big 
Woods," in consequence of the two large bodies of 
timber that are adjacent to these places. 

During the summer of 1853 Mr. Kelly laid out 
fifty-five acres into blocks and lots, streets and 
squares, and named his town Saint Charles, in 
honor of his oldest son whose name was Charles. 
One log cabin was erected on the place in the year 
1851. The saw-mill of Mr. Kelly was commenced, 
but was not in running order until late in the fall 
of that year. In August of the same year Floyd 
county was organized and the county seat was 
located at St. Charles. During that year the vil- 
lage had grown from one to five cabins, and re- 
mained nearly the same until late in the summer 
of 1855. 

In the spring of 1855, owing to the freshet, the 
sawmill was out of repair and was not put into 
operation until July. At about the same time 
Mr. Jarvis Rattan put into operation a steam saw- 
mill, then a little east of the town, but now in the 
heart of the village. The demand for lumber was 
great, and as many buildings as possible were 
erected from that time until the setting in of win- 
ter. 

In the meantime a company of capitalists, seven 
in number, and mostly from Rockford, Illinois, 
bought of Mr. Kelly, and, with him as a partner, 



524 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

bought other lands adjoining, when additional 
surveys of town lots were made. This company 
(the town Proprietors) are Joseph Kelly, Duncan 
Ferguson, R. M. Waller, Milo Gilbert, William 
Hulin, Luke Joslin. R. M. Brantingham and Wil- 
liam Spriggs. The four former reside in St. 
Charles, and the others at Rockford, Illinois. 

The sale of town lots has been rapid beyond all 
precedent. In the beginning of the present sea- 
son contracts were made to erect one hundred 
dwelling houses during the season, and many of 
these are already put up and occupied. Among 
the edifices of the town at the present time we 
may name the fine flouring mill and hotel of Mr. 
Kelly, a good school house, the stores of Hon. 
A. L. Collins, John Ferguson & Co., Ferguson & 
Stanley, Rumpf, Lehmkuhl & Co., Sidney D. 
Noble, Fessenden & Montague, not omitting the 
enterprising pioneer log store of Cheney & Brack - 
ett, the Gothic "villa" of Milo Gilbert, not yet 
completed, the neat cottages of Messrs. Waller and 
Goddard, the "Intelligencer" building, the large 
new hotel of Smith and Goddard and the stone 
store of Cheney & Brackett now in course of 
erection. 

The business of the place embraces two saw- 
mills; one flour-mill; seven stores, including a 
book-store and a drug-store; a newspaper and job- 
printing office; tin- ware manufactory; two black- 
smiths; one cabinet maker; one shingle manufac- 
tory; two lath mills; any number of carpenters 
and joiners; four plasterers; two stone masons; 
one brick-layer; three painters; four physicians; 
four lawyers; two clergymen; one tailor; one shoe- 
maker; and a small sprinkling of land dealers and 
speculators. 

Upon the organization of the county, in 1854, 
John M. Hunt was appointed county Judge; David 
Wiltse, Prosecuting Attorney; S. C. Goddard, 
Clerk; Cory don P. Burroughs, School Fund Com- 
missioner; and William Montgomery, Sheriff. The 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 525 

township officers were, A. W. Story, Justice of the 
Peace; Mason Clark and Charles P. Stevens, Con- 
stables. 

At the April election, in 1855, John Ball was 
elected Judge, to fill the vacancy occasioned by 
the resignation of Judge Hunt. No other change 
was made in the County Officers. The township 
officers elected were: John Blunt, R. W. Hum- 
phrey, and John Kellogg, Trustees; Milo Gilbert, 
Clerk; Sanford Harwood, Assessor; Joshua Jack- 
son and Alanson Lambert, Justices of the Peace; 
Jonathan Montgomery and C. P. Stevens, Con- 
stables. 

. At the August election, 1855, A. L. Collins was 
elected County Judge; Joshua Jackson, Recorder 
and Treasurer; J. G. Shoemaker, County Survey- 
or; Wm. Montgomery, Sheriff; David Wiltse, Pros- 
ecuting Attorney; and John Kellogg, Coroner. 

At the April election, 1856, David Wiltse was 
elected School Fund Commissioner; and Joseph 
Coley, Drainage Commissioner. Town Officers: 
For Trustees, R. W. Humphrey, John Kellogg and 
John Muir; for Clerk, Orlando Bagley; Assessor, 
Seth Richardson; Constables. Jonathan Montgom- 
ery and C. P. Stevens; Road Supervisors, John 
Blunt and R. W. Humphrey. 

When Mr. Kelly visited Dubuque for the pur- 
pose of making entries of the land here, he was 
considered almost insane. "Why, man alive! do 
you know where this land is?" said the officer of 
the land office. "I believe I do," was the reply. 
"Well," said the officer. kk it is worthless to you, — 
it is clean out of the world!" "No matter, — I will 
venture to take it," said Mr. Kelly, and, pocketing 
his certificates, he left the office. 

Probably no town in the State has a more de- 
lightful location than St. Charles. It is situated 
on both sides of the Cedar River, as lovely a 
stream as ever Moore or Barns immortalized in 
verse, and stretches out upon a clean rolling prai- 
rie where groves of timber skirt the landscape 



526 



SELECTED WRITINGS OF 



around. It is already a point for a large trade 
with the people of the surrounding country, and 
it is confidently believed that it will, ere many 
years, enjoy all the privileges and blessings of the 
older inland towns and cities of the East. The 
population of the township in June, 1855, was 550; 
and of the county a little over 1300. In June, 
1856, the township census showed a population of 
1026, and that of the county 2700. — Intelligencer, 
July 31, 1856. 




A SCENE OF EARLY DAYS IN CHARLES CITY, IA. 

The above engraving illustrates many things 
that took place, or that might be seen, during the 
early settlement of Charles City. First, and most 
prominent, is the territorial seal of the Hawk-eye 
State, showing a picture of a hawk with a bow in 
his talons and an arrow in his beak. At the right 
may be seen the Kelly flouring mill; the railway 
locomotive; the Hildreth printing press; and a 
copy of the Charles City Intelligencer. In the 
foreground are seen representations of agricul- 
ture; the farmer's breaking plow; a sheaf of wheat; 
a rake; corn basket, and growing corn. At the 
left are the emigrant wagon, (prairie schooner); 
Indian tepees; the red men gazing in silent won- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 527 

der upon the new order of things; and across the 
Cedar river the buffalo are seen scampering away 
for dear life! 



"LO! THE POOR INDIAN." 

Several families of Winnebago Indians; men, 
women and children; are now on a visit to St. 
Charles, and have pitched their tents upon the 
west bank of the river, opposite the village. But 
a few years have elapsed since this was their 
hunting ground; and now, to view the cluster of 
white houses, — the homes of the "pale faces," — 
bright, like diamonds set in the diadem of beauty, 
which have sprung into being, as if by enchant- 
ment, upon the very spot where so very recently 
the deer disported and the buffalo roamed at will, 
must indeed strike them with wonder and sur- 
prise, however much they may affect a stoical in- 
difference. 

A day or two since we noticed one of the chiefs, 
accompanied by his little son, passing our office. 
He wore his moccasins and breeches of deer skin, 
and had a sort of turban upon his head, decorated 
with gaudy feathers. His face was painted in the 
(to us) most hideous manner. Wrapping his 
blanket around him, he moved with a lofty tread 
and majestic mien, and apparently regarded us, 
poor toiling whites, with utmost contempt. Pass- 
ing on a short distance, he threw his blanket upon 
the ground, beneath an oak, and, seated upon it, 
with his young "brave," he continued for some 
time to gaze upon the landscape around. His 
thoughts we could imagine; but no words escaped 
his lips. 

What a wonderful change a few years have 
wrought in the character and aspect of this coun- 
try! They have blotted forever from its face a 
whole peculiar people. Art has usurped the pow- 
ers of nature; the children of education have been 
too powerful for the tribes of the ignorant. Here 



528 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

and there a stricken few remain; but how unlike 
their bold, untamed, untamable progenitors! 

As Sprague has it: The Indian of falcon glance, 
of lion bearing; the theme of the touching ballad; 
the hero of the pathetic tale, is gone; and his de- 
graded offspring crawl upon the soil where he 
walked in majesty, to remind us how miserable is 
man when the foot of the conqueror is on his neck. 
As a race they have withered from the land; 
their arrows are broken, their springs are dried 
up, their cabins are in the dust. Their council 
fires have gone out on the eastern shore, and their 
war-cry is fast dying away on the western horizon. 
Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains 
and read their doom in the setting sun. They are 
shrinking before the mighty tide which is press- 
ing them away; they must soon hear the roar of 
the last wave, which will settle over them forever! 
— Intelligencer, July, 1856. 



OUR PRAIRIE LANDS. 

Pretty, pretty, pretty! was the oft involutary 
ejaculation of our heart and lips as we traveled 
across the prairies of Floyd and Cerro Gordo 
counties during the past week. Those beautiful 
and lovely savannas that spread their broad ex- 
panse between the Cedar and Shell Rock rivers; 
between the Shell Rock and Lime Creek; between 
Lime Creek and Clear Lake; present the most en- 
chanting landscape scenes we ever beheld. Not 
that they excite the organs of sublimity like the 
mountain scenery of New Hampshire or Vermont, 
but they are so quiet and peaceful and present 
such a finished aspect as to impress the beholder 
with the idea that nature has there exerted her- 
self to create a paradise for man. 

In the formation of the prairies nature must in- 
deed have been in her happiest mood, for in view- 
ing them there is no such feeling of awe as is sure 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 529 

to arise on beholding cragged mountain cliffs 
which appear to have been caused by some violent 
and terrible convulsion. These latter scenes ap- 
pear grand and wonderful, and excite the organs 
of sublimity, but, to use a contradictory term, 
they are painfully pleasing. 

The monotony of a western prairie is sometimes 
complained of by travelers, but not so with us. 
At this time of year especially is there an abun- 
dance of food for reflection and diversion to the 
prairie traveler. To witness the luxuriant grass 
waving to and fro in the gentle wind; to note the 
innumerable and variegated flowers which exhale 
their sweet odors and give fragrance to the breeze; 
to behold numerous flocks and herds quietly graz- 
ing upon interminable pasture lands; to see here 
and there "improvement" commenced, often a log 
house away out upon the prairie, though oftener 
in close proximity to some lovely grove or belt of 
heavy timber, where a neat log cabin has just been 
erected, fences are being constructed, "breaking" 
done, seed put into the soil for the first time since 
the world began; these and much more than these 
excite admiration and induce silent praises to as- 
cend continually from nature up to nature's God. 

Call at one of those log shanties, and you are 
welcomed in by a youthful and tidy wife; it may 
be a cherub babe is in her arms or is innocently 
prattling upon the floor; ask whence she came, 
and she will tell you, from Connecticut or Maine, 
that her husband had obtained from the Govern- 
ment a quarter section of land there; that their 
farm was already worth ten < dollars an acre, 
though it cost them but a dollar and a quarter one 
year ago. Ask if she is not homesick, and if she 
did not almost freeze during the past winter, and 
she will deny it all. "Oh, no," she will say, "we 
had such a hard time at the East, and now my 
husband is doing so well; I mean to help him get 
rich and then we will enjoy ourselves." A remote 
habitation and the cold winds of winter have no 

67 



530 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

terrors for hearts like hers, and when summer 
comes they are all forgotten and lost in bright an- 
ticipation of the future. 

Our whole-souled friend, Lonson Corey, Esq., of 
Bradford, called the other day with his buggy and 
five hundred dollar ponies, and took us in, not as 
strangers are sometimes "taken in," but for a ride 
through the country we have named. Prom St. 
Charles we passed across the prairie about eight 
miles to Flood Creek; thence through the Flood 
Creek timber and across the prairie five miles to 
Rockford. Rockford is a new town situated on a 
beautiful plateau in the fork formed by the junc- 
tion of the Shell Rock and Lime rivers. The 
town was platted one year ago, and the beauty of 
the place has attracted thither a considerable 
number of settlers. A saw-mill, propelled by 
water-power, was put in operation here the latter 
part of last season, and another will soon be com- 
pleted. Twenty or thirty houses are already 
erected and others are being rapidly constructed. 

From Rockford we proceeded to Shell Rock 
Falls, — distance about fifteen miles. Of this town 
our friend Corey has recently become the sole 
proprietor. Nature here furnishes a succession 
of water-powers, which, if improved, would scarce- 
ly have a rival in northern Iowa. There is also 
at this point a body of heavy timber, covering 
several thousand acres, which is of the very best 
quality for building and mechanical purposes. 
There is now in operation here a saw-mill and 
Hour-mill, and another mill is being erected. Here 
is certainly a fine chance for men of enterprise. 
The prairie around is of superior quality, and is 
being rapidly settled upon by an excellent class of 
people. Mr. Corey holds a large amount of land 
in the neighborhood which he will dispose of to 
settlers on the most favorable terms. 

From Shell Rock Falls we traveled across the 
prairie seven miles to Mason City, situated on the 
west side of Lime Creek and just north of the 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 531 

creek which makes an outlet to Clear Lake. Here 
is indeed a lovely spot. Pine timber skirts the 
streams, inexhaustible quarries of stone crop out 
along their banks, and prairies as handsome and 
fertile as the eye of man ever beheld environ the 
town and stretch away in the distance. Until 
sometime last summer this was a village wholly of 
log houses. A saw-mill was at that time put in 
operation and fifty or more frame buildings sprang 
up as if by magic. New buildings are now in 
process of erection; a good school is kept in the 
village, and in the hall over McMillin's store pub- 
lic worship is held each Sabbath. Mason City 
must inevitably grow and prosper. She has all 
the "elements" for it. 

We cannot conclude this sketch without paying 
a deserved compliment to Mrs. McMillin for the 
sumptuous dinner she prepared for us. That ma- 
ple honey was so delicious, and so strongly re- 
minded us of old Vermont, that we could not for- 
bear speaking of it, when the fact came out that 
Mrs. M. was a Vermont woman. A female rela- 
tive, who hailed from Kentucky, claiming to have 
had a hand in preparing the dinner, we could only 
escape from our dilemma by suggesting that Ver- 
mont and Kentucky were twin sisters, admitted 
into the Union at about the same time, and had 
since gone hand in hand together in the support 
of Henry Clay and other good men, and promoting 
a protective tariff and all laudible measures for 
the prosperity of the American people. — Intelli- 
gencer, June 18, 1857. 



LETTER FROM DETROIT. 
Editorial Correspondence of the Intelligencer. 

Detroit, Michigan, August 7, 1857. 

The country, — the country! Every one at the 
present time appears to be seeking an acquaint- 
ance with the country. City denizens, — gentlmen, 



532 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

with broad-brim hats and big linen over- sacks; 
ladies, with still larger (oh, how large!) "crino- 
lines," — are every where peregrinating this great 
and glorious country of ours, in the pursuit of 
pleasure, health or business. Such are the pres- 
ent facilities for traveling through the United 
States, both by steamboat and rail-car, that a 
great deal may be seen for a little money. 

Business called the writer away, but health and 
pleasure will not fail to claim an interest in the 
journey. The country everywhere is charmingly 
beautiful, but thus far in my journey I have seen 
no portion that excels our loved State of Iowa. I 
have just traveled all through Southern Wisconsin 
and Northern Illinois, and across Michigan, and 
am free to say that if any State may boast of 

"The prodigality of nature, 
The balm, the bliss, the beauty and the bloom, 
The bounteous providence in every feature," 

that State is Iowa, with her broad and excessively 
fertile prairies, cerulean canopy, sky-blue pools, 
music breathing groves, pearly showers, atmos- 
phere of perfume, lovely rivers, 

"Banks whereon the wild thyme blows ; 
Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows ; 
Quite over-canopied with wild woodbine, 
With sweet musk roses and with eglantine." 

Ah, Iowa is indeed a State of which her citizens 
may well be proud. Her vast fields of Indian 
corn, of wheat, oats, barley, &c, are unrivaled. 

I may say that my journey hither has been a 
pleasant one. The weather was just comfortable; 
neither too warm nor too cool. At McGregor I 
found the people awake to the importance of con- 
structing the railroad westward to St. Charles, 
and there appeared no doubt that the work would 
be pushed forward with vigor. The town, — no, 
city, — of McGregor has grown wonderfully the 
present season. Those ancient bluffs, which old 
Mississippi has failed to demolish, are giving way 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 533 

to Anglo- Saxon encroachment, and are making 
room for the homes of pioneer settlers and for the 
marts of commerce. 

Crossing over the river to Prairie du Chien, the 
scene of Gen. Zachary Taylor s exploits during the 
Blackhawk war, I took a look at the old town. It 
was here that Fort Crawford was built, which is 
now in a dilapidated condition. Here is still stand- 
ing the house in which Gen. Taylor lived and on 
which he wrought with his own hands when con- 
structed; and it was from this home that Jefferson 
Davis stole the General's daughter, and fled with 
her in a skiff down the Mississippi. . 

Stepping into one of the new and beautiful pas- 
senger cars of the Milwaukee and Mississippi 
Railroad Company, a few hours ride landed me 
safely in Milwaukee. Finishing my business 
there, I next visited Janesville. Here I found a 
thriving city full of activity and energy; and here 
I met some old Vermont friends, — the Judges 
Prichard, and the Hon. J. W. D. Parker. From 
Janesville I proceeded to Beloit. This is a lovely 
place, — but oh how different are the people from 
those of Janesville,— quiet, staid and orderly, — 
but lacking the Yankee go-ahead-a-tive-ness of 
their up-river neighbors. 

Leaving Beloit I soon found myself in Chicago, 
— that same noisy, bustling, reckless, dirty Chi- 
cago we have read of, "only a little more so." A 
ride of three hundred miles over the Michigan 
Central Railroad brings me to Detroit. 

In Detroit I find an old friend of early days, 
Washington A. Bacon, who long ago left the green 
hills of Vermont and took up his abode in this 
metropolis of the Wolverines. He and his excel- 
lent wife, with their son and daughter, are now 
living in affluence and enjoying the fruits of early 
industry and the reward of a well-spent life. 

Mr. Bacon has seen Detroit grow from a village 
of four thousand people to a city of one hundred 
thousand souls. The site on which the city is 



534 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

built is one of the finest in the world. It is on the 
west bank of the straits that lead from Lake St. 
Clair to Lake Erie. The ground rises gently to a 
height of nearly one hundred feet above the river, 
forming a ridge parallel to it. It is on this swell 
of land that Detroit is built. The buildings are 
mostly of brick, neat and substantial. Jefferson 
Avenue, a beautiful street one hundred and twenty 
feet wide, passes lengthwise on this ridge, in a 
direct line, for many miles. At the highest point, 
and about in the center of business, Woodward 
Avenue, of like dimensions, crosses Jefferson Ave- 
nue at right angles. 

My friend Bacon took me across the river (here 
about a mile wide) to Windsor on the Canadian 
shore, a small pretty place now building up at the 
terminus of the Great Western railway. After 
"viewing the landscape o'er," we crossed back on 
the railroad transit boat, on which we made the 
acquaintance of P. Homan, Esq. , the affable super- 
intendent of the Canada road. He was once of 
the editorial fraternity and would not admit that 
he had gone up higher by becoming a railroad 
manager. 

On Fort Street, in Detroit, the dwelling house 
of Gen. Cass was pointed out, — a plain and unpre- 
tending edifice, such as becomes a democratic pio- 
neer, but hardly such as one would expect for a 
man of Gen. C.'s great wealth. His farm once 
comprised nearly half of the ground on which the 
city of Detroit now stands. In the same block 
with Gen. Cass is the residence of Zachary Chan- 
dler, his Republican successor in the U. S. Senate. 

A few of the old French settlers still remain. 
So opposed to progress were they, these "old 
fogies, " that the opening through their lands of 
Jefferson Avenue was resisted by them with guns 
and pistols. Some of them, in the building and 
spread of the city, had large fortunes thrust upon 
them. 

It is the boast of Detroit people that no city in 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 535 

the world is supplied with so good water as theirs. 
The water is taken from the Strait or River which 
is here very deep and clear, and after being forced 
into a reservoir, is distributed to every part of 
the city. Battle grounds were pointed out to me, 
and tales were told of. skirmishes with Pontiac 
and other war chiefs, of which I have not time to 
write. Suffice it to say, Detroit, in every respect, 
far exceeds my expectations, and may be set down 
as one of the most lovely cities in all the West. 

A. B. F. H. 



NEW YORK LETTER. 
Editorial Correspondence of the Intelligencer. 

When in Detroit I accepted the invitation of 
Capt. Langley to take passage on board his mag- 
nificent Lake steamer, the Mississippi, for Buffalo. 
The weather was fine, and the comforts of this 
floating palace made me feel very much at home. 
Leaving Detroit at eleven o'clock A. M., we were 
in Buffalo at four o'clock next morning. 

Stepping on board the lightning express train 
of the N. Y. Central Railroad at six o'clock A. M., 
a ride of three hundred miles brought me to Al- 
bany at four o'clock, P. M., whence the steamer 
New World landed me safely in New York next 
morning. It is worthy of remark that, while the 
cars run full, but comparatively few people travel 
by water. The cars are crowded, warm and dusty; 
while on board the boats we have a cool atmos- 
phere, and all the comforts of a first-class hotel. 

New York is still New York. Lawlessness and 
violence, vice and crime, stalk forth by night and 
by day; and every year and month, even, this 
state of things grows worse. The city is governed 
by foreigners, — the dregs of all creation! With 
these facts before us the wonder is that the city is 
no worse off. 

The all absorbing topic in every circle here, is 
the "baby case" of Mrs. Cunningham, the comic 



536 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

and disgusting details of which have formed the 
staple of the newspapers far and near. I suppose 
the readers of . the Intelligencer are already ad- 
vised of the particulars, and I will not repeat 
them. I doubt if the annals of crime can show a 
parallel case to this. It is the most serio-comic 
farce that was ever played. 

In addition to the Cunningham case, the record 
of New York the last week forms an array of 
wickedness that ought to startle any candid mind. 
First, comes the murder at the Sea View House, 
Navesink, on Saturday, by which the bar-tender 
of the house had his throat cut in his room by the 
book-keeper. They had been gambling during 
part of the night, and the former had won consid- 
erable money from the book-keeper, Donelly, 
which had been placed in his charge by one of the 
boarders. 

The next murder is that which occurred on the 
same night at No. 3 Mulberry street, in a German 
bier haus, the victim being a young man by the 
name of Tompkins residing in Hoboken with his 
mother. The family are highly respected and the 
affliction is keenly felt. Several burglaries are 
reported, in one of which a grocer grappled with 
the robber and was shot and killed. In another 
case a man named Hartigan was attacked by a 
fellow laborer, knocked from a building, and fall- 
ing twenty feet, was killed. 

Besides these cases there were other tights and 
thefts in different parts of the city. I think that 
four murders in one week and three or four other 
attempts at murder, will establish a character for 
this city not at all enviable. h. 

New York, August 10, 1867. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 537 

LETTER FROM ROSTON. 
Editorial Correspondence of the Intelligencer. 

Boston, August 14, 1857. 

The people of the good old Bay State appear to 
be warming up on politics about these days, pre- 
paratory to the annual State election. The know- 
ing ones who claim to be in the secret say that 
Governor Gardner will receive the nomination for 
Governor again and will be re-elected. In the 
eastern part of the State he is quite popular with 
the masses; but the Banks men are very sanguine 
of success, even against the allied forces of the 
Gardner Know Nothings, the Administration Dem- 
ocrats and the old fogy Whigs, all of whom are 
expected to support Gardner. "Misery makes 
strange bedfellows." 

Probably no city in the Union is so noted for its 
substantial charities as Boston. Very many of 
the charitable enterprises of the city are set on 
foot and carried forward most successfully by the 
solid men and solid women, — the real aristocracy, 
— who use their wealth for the amelioration of 
suffering humanity, A nobler aristocracy than 
this of Boston, comprising as it does the Bige- 
lows, Lawrences, Appletons, &c, cannot be found 
any where else. On Wednesday a meeting of 
ladies, friendly to the Home for the Fallen, was 
held at Rev. Phineas Stowe's church. Joseph 
Story presided, and a committee of ladies was 
chosen to prepare and report a constitution and 
list of officers for the formation of a Ladies Aid 
Society, the object of which will be to assist by 
way of clothing and funds the organization above 
named. Forty persons have been received at the 
''Home;" no one has yet deceived the managers, 
and the prospects of the institution are very flat- 
tering. 

For some time past a good Christian woman has 
been in the habit of seeking out poor, sick women, 
and providing for their comfort. She has been 



538 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

allowed to use the vestry of the Federal Street 
church as a hospital for this purpose, and two of 
the best physicians have given their attendance 
free. This hospital is one of those unostentatious 
forms of charity which commend themselves at 
once to the benevolent. 

The tide of pleasure travel sets strongly towards 
the mountain regions of Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire. The hotels are well patronized, and the 
railroads converging mountainward are doing a 
good business. To-morrow I shall be off for the 
Green Mountains of Vermont, whence you may 
expect from me another missile. h. 



LETTER FROM VERMONT. 

Editorial Correspondence of the Intelligencer. 

Among the Green Mountains, Aug. 20, 1857. 

How oddly does a hill country seem to one who 
has, even for a year or two, been accustomed to a 
prairie life ! Notwithstanding my infant eyes first 
beheld the light of day amid this mountain region, 
I could never before realize that these valleys were 
so deep, the mountains so lofty, their sides so 
steep, as they now appear. It is difficult to per- 
suade myself that the hills have not grown one- 
half their size since I formerly saw them. 

But, oh, how grand and pleasing to the organs 
of sublimity are scenes such as now surround me! 
How much of beauty, aye, and of happiness, is 
there all around! This spot in which I have hid- 
den myself for a few days is one of the most at- 
tractive and romantic seclusions of which it is 
possible to conceive. Hills and dales and purling 
brooks, and trees around, — trees of the native for- 
est, — none of your little saplings set in a hole dug 
in the ground; nor your dwarf burr oaks, gnarled 
and sered by a hundred fires, away out on a deso- 
late prairie; but the giants with tossing arms, 
stately tall, lifting their heads high towards heav- 
en; the sugar maple, birch, elm, ash and linden. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 539 

The old house-dog and I have great "larks" in 
the old pastures and forests, — he scaring up the 
cows and chasing the squirrels from fence to tree, 
and I leisurely looking on to enjoy the fun as 
much as anything I ever enjoyed since I was a 
boy. Indeed, I feel that I am a boy again. If I 
enter the dark shade of the woods, or emerge 
therefrom; after an hour's thoughtful ramble, into 
the bright sunlight again, my pulses bound with a 
new life, my heart leaps with a fresh sympathy, 
and I find many and many a rich resource of de- 
light which never before had been heeded. 

The berries are plenty in the pastures, and are 
ripening as fast as they can. How delicious are 
the red and black raspberries! More than one 
bowl of them, with crackers and milk, have I en- 
joyed. Ah, is it not a luxury to feed on fresh 
berries and sweet milk; to see the cows milked in 
the yard, morning and evening; to stroll up and 
down the hillsides, accompanied by the house-dog 
— you in quest of berries, and he in pursuit of 
squirrels and woodchucks; to watch the haymak- 
ers at their work; to lie down and roll on the 
grass; to tumble on the newly mown hay; to let 
out your voice and soul together in shouting, whis- 
tling and singing? Surely you will give an affirm- 
ative answer. But it is a luxury not to be rated 
as ordinary things are, for none of its enjoyments 
can be classed in any known category. Evanes- 
cent and fleeting as they are, they are still the 
most solid and real pleasures that present them- 
selves to the uneasy heart of man. 

The primeval life of man is the most healthful 
of all occupations, — healthful for the body and the 
soul. The farmer's occupation is not to scratch 
with the pen; or rap, rap, with a hammer; nor is 
it an everlasting unpacking and re-packing of an- 
other's labor. He walks forth under the open 
sky, with his broad acres spread out beneath his 
feet. The blue concave, lit with sun or stars, is 
above him. Health claims him as her favorite, 



540 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

and the glorious sun loves to kiss a cheek that is 
not ashamed to wear the ruddy imprint of such 
affection. Nature's inimitable babbling brooks, 
birds, breezes or rustling foliage, enter his ear on 
their glad mission to his heart. 

When towards the close of a sultry day the sum- 
mer's blessing comes pouring down, as says the 
poetry of the sacred volume, "the trees of the 
field clap their hands, and the valleys covered 
with corn shout for joy." Surely such a people 
should be the happiest in the world. All their 
ambition may be supposed to centre in their little 
farms and homes; and their calculations satisfied 
to embrace such articles as corn, beans, potatoes, 
hops, poultry, horses, cattle, sheep, and a moder- 
ate supply of wool for the winter's spinning and 
knitting. 

On the Sabbath one can but be amused and in- 
terested at witnessing the demeanor of this sim- 
ple-mannered people. As they go up to the un- 
pretending "meeting house," with their wives and 
little ones, and shake hands so solemnly with 
their neighbors who are gathered about the doors, 
they ask the news of the week, comment on the 
condition of the crops, the "catching weather" for 
harvesting hay, &c. A Sunday scene here is a 
fresh picture indeed. But enough. h. 



From the Charles City Intelligencer. 

MY CHILDHOOD'S HOME. 

My childhood's home, — can I forget 

Its closely woven ties 
When memory's tide, that murmurs thence 

Is fraught with melodies? 
Can I forget those early friends, — 

That mother, kind and true, — 
As o'er my young and tender mind 

A soft restraint she threw? 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 541 

Can I forget where first I learned 

To lisp our Father's prayer, 
At balmy eve, when it arose 

Like incense on the air? 
Can I forget the kindly smile 

That ever welcomed me, 
When oft from school I bounded home, 

So gayly, blithe and free? 

Can I forget that sparkling brook, 

That e'er went dancing by, 
Where oft I've watched the mirrored tints 

Of evening's gorgeous sky ! 
Can I forget the early haunts 

Of my life's joyous spring, 
When hope was glad within my heart 

As young birds on the wing? 

Ah no ! I never can forget, 

Though far from it I've strayed, 
For time can ne'er efface the scenes 

My memory's pen engraved. 
Back, back through time I'm often borne, 

On memory's magic wing, 
To when I wreathed the sweet wild flowers 

Fanned by the breath of spring. 

Oh, halcyon days of innocence ! 

Too quickly have ye fled ; 
Those happy hours no more return ; 

Their charms forever fled ; 
But still in memory's sweet commune, 

I'll hail them when afar, 
As nature's untaught worshipers 

Would hail a distant star ! 

A. B. F. H. 



LETTER FROM MAINE. 

Region of Sunrise, August 27, 1857. 

Traveling "down East on a shingle/' is a trite 
phrase among Yankees; and that mode of convey- 
ance in the olden time was doubtless supposed to 
possess more truth' than poetry. In these latter 
days, however, it is found that we may take the 
railway car at Prairie du Chien and continue trav- 
eling by rail until we arrive at the "jumping off 
place;" which in my case proves to be the city of 
Bangor, in the old Pine Tree State; a city world- 



542 SELECTED WRITINGS OP 

renowned for its pine lumber and pretty girls. 
All this journey may be performed in less than 
three days time! Was there ever a progressive 
age like ours? Was there ever a people like this 
universal Yankee nation? 

This forenoon I was in the picturesque town of 
Ellsworth, situated at the head of tide-water in 
the valley of Union river. This was formerly a 
town of great activity and enterprise in the lum- 
bering and shipping business; but owing to the 
failure of some of its leading men^the place is now 
suffering under a prostration of its commercial 
affairs. More than 50,000,000 feet of pine lumber 
used to be exported annually from this town; now 
it sends off scarcely half that amount. 

This afternoon I had a delightful ride of thirty 
miles over the hills from Ellsworth to Bangor. 
Mounting the top of the stage coach, I had an ex- 
cellent opportunity to 

— "view the landscape o'er." 

while our four noble bays whirled us along the 
smooth, hard road with almost the celerity of a 
bird. Here we have "staging as is staging." It 
is no Walker line, I assure you, and our driver was 
every inch a gentleman. 

Here in Bangor I find courteous attendance and 
excellent quarters at the Hatch House. Bangor 
is a city of 15,000 inhabitants, situated on the 
right bank of Penobscot river, and sixty miles 
from its mouth. It is a port of entry and the seat 
of justice of Penobscot county. At this place 
there is a good water-power, and the river is 
crossed by several bridges. At a short distance 
above the city a bridge 1320 feet long connects 
Bangor with Orringford. The tide here rises sev- 
enteen feet, and the harbor affords anchorage for 
vessels of the largest size. 

Bangor is one of the greatest lumber depots in 
the world. The great extent of country drained 
by the Penobscot and its tributaries is heavily 
timbered, with pine, the cutting and hauling of 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 543 

which to the numerous saw-mills, that every 
where line the banks of the Penobscot and its 
tributaries, afford one of the principal occupations 
of the inhabitants. The vast amount of lumber 
which these mills yearly produce is all brought to 
Bangor for exportation; this port being at the 
head of navigation on the river. Two thousand 
vessels are annually employed in this trade. 

Bangor is also extensively engaged in foreign 
commerce, in the coast trade and in ship-building. 
The city has a pleasant location, and commands a 
fine view of the river and surrounding country. 
The buildings are generally neat and well con- 
structed, and some exhibit a style of superior ele- 
gance. Steamboats make regular trips to Port- 
land and Boston. Bangor is also connected by 
railroad with those cities and also with Oldtown, 
twelve miles up the river. Oldtown Island in the 
Penobscot river at that place is still the home of 
the red man. The Penobscot tribe of Indians 
dwell there, have a church (Catholic), and schools, 
attend to agriculture, and some of the mechanic 
arts, and have the privilege of sending a Repre- 
sentative to the State Legislature. 

Politics are beginning to wake up the people of 
Maine, preparatory to the fall election. I was 
present at a Republican convention yesterday and 
at a Democratic convention to-day. All parties 
and factions are marshaling their forces for the 
annual political battle of the State. 

A somewhat singular custom appears to prevail 
among the "rustics' 1 of this section which I must 
not omit to mention. The practice I allude to is 
kissing, which seems particularly to develop itself 
at the railway stations on the arrival and depart- 
ure of the trains. At one station a young man 
rushed through the crowd to meet a buxom lass 
who was stepping down from the car, when he 
gave her such a smack as to cause a country dam- 
sel standing near to say to her k •feller:" — "Massy, 
Josh! what on airth's gev way on the keers?" 

A. B. F. H. 



544 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

LETTER FROM THE "HUB." 

Editorial Correspondence of the Intelligencer. 

Boston, Mass., Sept. 1, 1857. 

Among all the cities of the American Union, 
Boston stands pre-eminent. Pre-eminent in a 
thousand various characteristics, — in her high- 
toned morality and religion; in her educational 
provisions; in the integrity and enterprise of her 
business men; in the thoroughness and perma- 
nency of whatever the eye beholds; in the beauty 
and freshness of the women; their rich and taste- 
ful, yet not gaudy, attire; and in numerous other 
particulars not named. The very atmosphere is 
radiant with real and solid comforts. Cleanliness 
is every where a cardinal principle. 

Boston people know how to enjoy themselves. 
Excursion steamers ply in all directions from the 
harbor, which, together with yachts and pleasure 
boats, are active in conveying parties to and from 
various localities in and around the city. 

I was yesterday invited to one of these pleasure 
parties, consisting of several ladies and gentle- 
men, who took passage with "commodore" James 
A. Cutting on board his beautiful yacht, Ambro- 
type, for the purpose of a fishing excursion down 
the harbor. After a fine sail of twenty-five miles, 
we hove to, and at once proceeded to bait our 
hooks and cast them into the "vasty deep." The 
noble rock cod, haddock, hake, not omitting an 
occasional sculpin, nibbled most gloriously, and we 
soon had enough and more than enough for a fry 
for our supper, which the cook on board served 
up in fine style. 

As evening approached we found our boat be- 
calmed, and there was little prospect of a hasty 
return home. The moon shone brightly, and not 
a ripple stirred the waters. At an early hour we 
retired to our berths, leaving the pilot to get his 
vessel up to the city as best he might. A little 
past midnight a breeze sprang up, and as we 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 545 

awoke, at about four o'clock in the morning, our 
gallant ship was nearing the wharf. We landed 
and separated, all highly gratified with our ex- 
cursion. 

Capt. Cutting, commander and owner of the 
yacht Ambrotype, is the gentleman who a few 
years since invented and patented the process of 
taking pictures on glass; a style of pictures which 
he denominated Ambrotype, and which is now 
known as such throughout this country and 
Europe. 

The weather in this city is perfectly delicious, 
— such as will fill the corn-cribs with laughter, 
and rejoice the heart of the farmer. The pros- 
pect of an abundant harvest, all over the coun- 
try, was never more flattering than now. Every 
thing indicates a large reduction in the cost of 
living for the coming year. The people of this 
country have never exhibited a better temper 
since the destruction of tea in this harbor than in 
their present persistent refusal to purchase many 
articles at the prices set upon them by speculating 
harpies. 

The recent bland and balmy evenings fill the 
"Common" with crowds of people who know how 
to appreciate the fresh breezes of heaven. All 
classes are represented there, unless we except 
the "upper ten," who seem to regard the laughing 
breeze; the glorious firmament with its glittering 
stars; the grand old trees and the fragrant breath 
of herbs and flowers, to say nothing of the pretty 
little pond which lies like a pearl in its velvet lap; 
as vulgar, when compared with the gas-lighted 
and gas-heated parlors of their lordly mansions. 

Sitting an hour of an evening on one of those 
Puritanical benches near the little lake, with the 
living panorama that constantly revolves around 
its granite curb, and the fountain sending high up 
its Cochituate spray, one has a scene before him 
worthy of the painter or philosopher. Almost 
every class, nation and tongue are represented by 



546 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

those who promenade there on the various malls 
of the common every pleasant evening. So far as 
it applies, I can give you no better idea of the 
heterogeneous crowd than I find in the following 
lines of an ancient description of London: 

"Women black, red, fair and gray ; 
Prudes, and such as never pray ; 
Handsome, ugly, noisy, still ; 
Some that will not, some that will : — 
Many a beau without a shilling," &c. 

In every direction, either by moon-light or gas- 
light, may be seen little groups dotting the 
grounds; some walking, some sitting, and some 
reclining at their ease on the green turf. 

A. B. F. H. 



From the St. Charles Kepublican Intelligencer. 
THE CEDAR RIVER. 

Beautiful stream ! Oh tell me why 

Thou murmurest all the day? 
Thy silver breast is a pillow where 

The joyous sunbeams play ; 
And the stars, that shine in the glorious night 

Come down on thy bosom to lie, 
And mingle their rays in thy fountain's gush : ' 

Then why dost thou murmur, — why? 

Oh ! oft in the twilight I've o'er thee hung, 

And felt that Naiad's care 
Was feeding thy fount, and her spirit-love 

'Tending thee every where. 
And I have called in my softest tone, 

And wooed her to come to me ; 
But too well she loved thee, pining stream, 

To be for a moment free ! 

Then, beautiful stream, oh tell me why 

Thou murmurest all the day? 
Thy silver breast is a pillow, where 

The joyous sunbeams play ; 
And the stars, that shine in the glorious nigh 

Come down on thy bosom to lie, 
And mingle their rays in thy fountain's gush ; 

Then why dost thou murmur, — why? 
Charles City, Iowa, 1857. a. b. f. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 547 

From the Charles City Intelligencer, October 23, 1862. 
AN INDIAN'S LETTER. 

Mr. Dawley, of this county, permits us to pub- 
lish the following letter written by an educated 
Winnebago chief, popularly known as "Capt. 
Bradford,' 1 in behalf of his brother chief, "French- 
man," or "Capt. Jim 1 ': 

Winnebago Agency, (Minn.,) Sept. 30, 1862. 

To My Friend, Mr. Dawley: 

You says you wants of us to be friends of whites 
always. I hopes we will try to do so all time. 
We don't wants to do like the Sioux did. I am 
very glad to hear from you. If I could get chance 
to get off this fall I would come down and send my 
boy in school again next winter. But our agent, 
Mr, Balcomb, he would not let any one Indian go 
outside Reserve now. All our people here now. 
They raise excitement great deal every day. 
Don't know when we have battle at our place. 
Mr. Frenchman, he going to start to St. Paul to- 
morrow. He is my cousin. My name is Bradford 
L. Porter. Most any body know me in St. Charles. 
I am teaching school. Frenchman's boy, he in 
my school now. His name John H. Frenchman. 
Left his Indian name since he get in my school. 
Tell your daughter, Joanna Dawley, John H. 
Frenchman very glad to hear from her. He stay 
in my school till get excitement over. 
Your truly friend, 

Bradford L. Porter. 



GREAT ANXIETY AND EXCITEMENT. 

During the year 1862 the citizens of Charles City 
and Floyd County had various causes for anxiety, 
excitement and alarm. Among these causes may 
be named the Government call for 300,000 men for 
the war of the rebellion; Floyd County's quota be- 
ing thirty men; and yet she sent forth a full hun- 



548 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

dred of her brave sons, to help preserve our liber- 
ties; and only a few but women and children were 
left to harvest the crops; fathers, husbands, sons 
and brothers having left them for the war! Then, 
in the fall, the terrible Indian massacre in Minne- 
sota broke out, and every man in the county en- 
listed in Col. Huntley's Floyd County Regiment; 
every musket, every pound of powder, and all the 
lead that could be found in the county, were gath- 
ered up and held in readiness to resist the expect- 
ed encroachments of the Indians; while women 
had their trunks packed and were ready to leave 
the country. In the midst of all this excitement 
and anxiety, which drove sleep from the eyelids 
of very many persons, what should occur but a 
devastating fire in Charles City, which destroyed 
nearly all of the business portion of the town! 
The following is copied from the Charles City 
Intelligencer of October 23, 1862: 

TERRIBLE CONFLAGRATION ! 

Great Fire in Charles City. Two Hotels, Six 
Stores, Two Jewelry Shops, One Bank, One Law 
Office, and One Tailor Shop Burned. 

TOTAL LOSS, $50,000! 

Nearly all of the business portion of our beauti- 
ful town is in ashes! At about 2:30 o'clock P. M., 
on Thursday, October 23, 1862, fire was discovered 
issuing from the roof of the Kelly Hotel in this 
village, and the wind being very high, the devour- 
ing element did not cease its ravages until twelve 
valuable buildings, on the main business street 
were in ruins. From the Intelligencer office to 
McNabb's store, and from the Public Square to 
Gilbert's stone building, on both sides of the 
street, two entire blocks, not a vestige of the 
buildings remain, except the stone foundations 
and ashes! So rapidly did the flames spread that 
nearly two hours sufficed to cause all this destruc- 
tion of property. 

After the household goods from the Kelly Ho- 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 549 

tel and the Magnolia House were saved, as much 
as possible, and it was found that the latter build- 
ing would be burned, then the cry was: "The 
printing office — the printing office! Save the 
printing office!'' and it was saved. Carpets from 
our dwelling house were hung all over the build- 
ing and kept saturated with water. To Mr. Carv- 
er, Mr. Teeling, Charles Kelly, and the many 
others who assisted them, are we indebted for 
kindly and successful efforts in saving the Intelli- 
gencer building, — and that being saved, our dwell- 
ing house, near by, was saved also. Much of our 
printing materials, and goods in the store beneath, 
were taken out; and from our dwelling house 
every thing was removed, in the momentary ex- 
pectation that the flames would seize upon and 
consume the building and contents. To the many 
kind ladies and gentlemen who assisted us we ten- 
der our most grateful thanks. 

While we were thus engaged the fire spread 
across the street and the watch and jewelry shops 
of Mr. Smiley and Mr. Bennett, the law office of 
G. G. & R. G. Reiniger, the tailor shop of D. 
Davidson, the Ferguson & Stanley hardware store, 
the grocery store of J. Stolle, the shoe and har- 
ness shop of Ferguson & Sampson, the store and 
tinshop of Charles Merckel, the banking house of 
G. B. Eastman & Co., and the general variety 
store of John W. Lehmkuhl & Co., were all at 
nearly one and the same time enveloped in flames. 

The burning wood and cinders were carried by 
the wind to remote parts of the town, where they 
would ignite sometimes the roofs of buildings, 
sometimes stacks of hay, also dry leaves, grass, 
&c, which kept the people constantly at work ex- 
tinguishing the fires. All the people, men, wo- 
men and children, labored with all their might in 
efforts to save goods and property. A large por- 
tion of the goods was saved, although much was 
lost; and many of the articles saved are in a dam- 
aged state. 



550 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

But a small portion of any of the property was 
insured. The loss to the Kelly family cannot be 
less than $10,000.00 Mr. Lehmkuhl is probably 
the next heaviest loser, his loss being 13,000.00 or 
more. Mr. Merckel has lost $1,000.00 and Mr. 
Stolle $500.00. Messrs. Reinigers' loss in office, 
books, papers, &c, is from $1,000.00 to $2,000.00. 

Some of the buildings were owned by non-resi- 
dents and the owner's names we do not know. 
The entire loss by tire is estimated at $50,000.00; 
it may be much more. 

All night the people were kept constantly upon 
watch, lest the fire should break out in some new 
place. At about midnignt the wind changed from 
south to north, blowing almost a gale, and excit- 
ing much alarm. The weather suddenly grew 
cold, snow began to fall, and when day-light ap- 
peared the earth ivas clad in a robe of white! Cheer- 
lessness and desolation reigned around! Black- 
ened ruins and wasted property had taken the 
place of handsome edifices and busy trade! 



A CHILD S FAITH. 

During the conflagration in our village, as stat- 
ed above, the little daughter of Rev. Mr. Adams 
suddenly seized hold of her mother, and, pulling 
her towards their house, urged her to pray God 
that he would not permit the entire destruction of 
our pleasant town. Her wish was acceded to, and 
her prayer was granted. A beautiful instance of 
a child's faith in prayer and confidence in God. — 
Intelligencer, October 23, 1862. 



From the Intelligencer of April 7, 1891. 

OBITUARY NOTICE. 

We find the following editorial article in refer- 
ence to the death of Calvin Stone in the Chicago 
Inter Ocean of the 3d instant: 

"Calvin Stone, who died of la grippe on Sunday, 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 551 

March 29, 1891, was a prominent citizen of Chica- 
go and a member of the firm of Calvin Stone & 
Sons, carriage manufacturers. 

The funeral took place Tuesday from the late 
residence of Mr. Stone, No. 86 North Ada street. 
The services were conducted by Professor Swing, 
and were impressive and instructive. The flowers 
furnished by loving friends were numerous and 
beautiful. Among the floral designs was one 
marked "The Broken Wheel, Our Employer," con- 
tributed by employes of the Stone carriage fac- 
tory, and emblematical of the firm, with one spoke 
broken out. 

Mr. Stone was born in Waterford, Oxford coun- 
ty, Maine, June 4, 1807, and was eighty-three 
years, nine months and twenty- five days old when 
he died. He was of Puritan ancestry — his mother 
being a cousin of Commodore Porter, of naval 
fame. In a letter written recently by the Hon. 
Hannibal Hamlin, that gentleman says: "It was 
a pleasure to meet Mr. Stone when lately in Chi- 
cago. We were boys together, and our relations 
were always pleasant and intimate. His half 
brother and sister were my own full cousins, and 
I never knew any difference between him and 
them. Indeed, I was delighted to see him.'' 

Mr. Stone has been an active business citizen of 
Chicago during the last twenty-three years, and 
will be greatly missed by many friends who knew 
him. He leaves a wife and three children, two 
sons and a daughter, all married and living in Chi- 
cago. Mr. Stone's remains now lie peacefully in 
the family lot at Rose Hill Cemetery/' 

Mr. Stone's wife is a daughter of the late Josiah 
Knight who for many years was a respected citi- 
zen of Charles City. She and the late wife of Mr. 
Hildreth of this place were sisters. Mrs. Stone 
now is the only one left of Mr. Knight's children. 
She with her husband and oldest son, came to 
Charles City a short time ago to attend the funeral 
of Mrs. Hildreth, and Mr. Hildreth in response to 



552 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

a telegram, felt it his duty to hasten to Chicago 
and there meet and mingle his tears and sympa- 
thies with the sorely afflicted family and friends 
of his late brother-in-law. He returned on Friday 
and reports that he left Mrs. Stone, her son Fred- 
erick and wife and daughter all sick with the 
grippe — so sick that none" of them were able to 
accompany the remains of Mr. Stone to the ceme- 
tery and witness the burial at Rose Hill. How 
true it is that 

As one by one the roses fade, 
So one by one our friends are laid 

in the cold and silent grave, and whose turn may 
come next cannot be divined by any one. 



DEATH OF HON. J. B. GRINNELL. 

Editor Intelligencer: I notice the statement in 
the papers that Hon. J. B. Grinnell, the founder 
of Iowa College in the town which bears his name, 
in Powesheik county, this State, is dead. He died 
April 1, 1891. Mr. Grinnell was a native of Ver- 
mont, and long a personal friend of the under- 
signed. In early days he used to stop at my 
house and my wife took much pleasure in enter- 
taining him. He was a man of great energy and 
force of character, and possessed the strictest in- 
tegrity. When first visiting Iowa he rode on 
horseback westward from Davenport till, coming 
to the divide between the Iowa and Des Moines 
rivers, that elevated prairie so attracted his atten- 
tion that he decided to purchase a liberal portion 
and build the town there which now bears his 
name. No drinking saloon was ever allowed to 
disgrace the place, but, on the contrary, Grinnell 
has always been known as a town of good morals, 
education and refinement. Mr. Grinnell's death 
will be greatly lamented by all who knew him. 
His age was seventy years. 

April Jf, 1891. A. B. F. Hildreth. 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 553 

FIDELITY. 

Never forsake a friend. When enemies gather 
around; when sickness falls upon the heart; when 
the world is dark and cheerless; is the time to try 
true friendship. The heart that has been touched 
with it will redouble its efforts when a friend is in 
trouble. Adversity will test true friendship and 
confirm it, Those who flee from the scenes of dis- 
tress betray their hypocrisy, and prove that self- 
interest only moves them. If you have a ^friend 
who loves you; who has studied your interest and 
happiness; be sure to sustain that friend in adver- 
sity. Let him feel and know that his past kind- 
ness is appreciated; that his love was not wasted 
upon you. Real fidelity may be rare; still it does 
exist in the hearts of many. Reader, have you 
not seen and felt its power? — Intelligencer, August 
11, 1870. 



A NICE PRESENT. 

A few days since, we received, by railroad, a 
unique package of large dimensions, and, upon 
examination, found that it comprised a huge pair 
of antlers, taken from the skull of an enormous 
elk. A letter from the postoffice explained that 
they were a present from Maj. James Jackson, of 
the 30th Regiment, U. S. A., stationed at Fort 
Fred. Steele, Wyoming Territory. The horns are 
in perfect condition. They are mounted on a 
handsomely carved block of black walnut and var- 
nished. They measure in their extreme length 
four feet and eight inches, and the distance across 
from one to the other, in the widest part, is three 
feet and six inches. The animal from which they 
were taken was captured in the Rocky Mountains 
and was one of the noblest of his species. Friend 
Jackson will please accept our most grateful 
thanks for so kindly remembering us. When we 



554 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

open a museum of rare curiosities those splendid 
antlers shall have the most conspicuous place. — 

Intelligencer, September 8, 1870. 

Note. — Those elk-horns are now used for a hat-rack in the 
front hall of Mr. Hildreth's dwelling house. — Ed. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 

To the Patrons of the Intelligencer: 

Kind Friends: It becomes my duty to announce 
that I liave sold the Intelligencer, subscription list 
and printing material to Messrs. Eugene B. Dyke 
and Dennison P. Rowell who will continue the 
printing and publishing business at the old stand 
as heretofore. These, my successors, are gentle- 
men of experience, character and ability. Being 
younger and more ambitious than I am, they may 
be expected to serve the public with greater ac- 
ceptance than I have been able to do. Both gen- 
tlemen are Republicans, and the political charac- 
ter of the Intelligencer will remain unchanged. 
In retiring from a business which has cost me 
many years of arduous labor, both mentally and 
physically, to establish, I take the opportunity to 
return my thanks to all patrons for their kind and 
generous support, trusting that our reciprocal 
services have been mutually beneficial. I also 
bespeak for my successors the same liberal patron- 
age which has heretofore been extented to me. 

A. B. F. Hildreth. 
Charles City, October 1, 1870. 



whistling girls. 

"Whistling girls and crowing hens 
Always come to some bad ends." 

But, notwithstanding this old proverb, we are in- 
clined to step forward and defend the whistling 
girls for their independence. Show us the girl 
who has the hardihood to whistle, in these days, 
when everything natural, even to the hair of your 



AZRO B. F. HILDRETH. 555 

head, is at a discount, and we will show you a girl 
who can be depended upon; one who will not fail 
you in time of need; who will give you the hearty 
grasp; the cordial hand-shake; the warm genuine 
welcome; no tip of the glove, and a cold how-do- 
you-do; who can brave danger; look toil in the 
face without shrinking; weep with those who 
weep; laugh with those who laugh; as well as 
whistle with those who whistle. Such a girl can 
take the world as she finds it, rough and rugged 
as it is, and not go through life as if she were 
walking on eggs and afraid she may crack a shell. 
She will deal in substance and not in shadow.— 
Intelligencer. 



From the Charles City Intelligencer. 
HOME. 

The word mother is a sacred word; aside from 
which is there a dearer, more magical word in the 
vocabulary of human speech than the word home? 
Is there one oftener in human thoughts and on 
human tongues? It is a beloved word, and at 
some period of life the proudest property and 
boast of every human soul. All who are born 
have one dearest spot for memory to point to, and 
that spot is home. On the land or on the sea, that 
cradle spot never leaves the soul's vision. Hum- 
ble or high, palace or cot, it matters not, — it is 
home. 

The Switzer among the avalanches, the Arab of 
the desert, the Guacho of the pampas, idolize it 
alike. From the farthest points of wandering, 
and through all times and fates, all turn their feet, 
or at least their memories, toward home. Their 
sentiment is ever — 

— "sweet, sweet" home; 
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." 

Home, of itself, is an ever- living thought in the 
human heart. The tenderest associations linger 
there, — the fondest visions, the brightest dreams. 



556 SELECTED WRITINGS OF 

Father, mother, brother, sister, — these are the 
figures grouped there, fadeless and imperishable! 
To be homeless, — oh, crown of wretchedness! 
Home, home, home, — possessed or remembered, — 
yours are the ties that 

"Outlive time and cold mortality," 

and renew themselves in every sad and every joy- 
ous hour forever. You are the alpha and omega, — 
beginning on earth, and ending, — oh, no, never 
ending, God grant, — in that "house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." 

Home, home! fond, longing heart-cry of mil- 
lions. Be the triple guard of reverence, love and 
duty around about thee. Profane, oh man or 
woman, whatever other shrine thou wilt, but spare 
the home, protect the home, love and cherish the 
home. It is the best, the holiest of refuge vouch- 
safed to mortals here below. 

Over the wide earth may God bless every human 
home; and when earth shall fail take us to that 
brighter and more beautiful home beyond the 
skies. h. 







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